Gekkouha: Moonlight flower
by Maru de Kusanagi
Summary: Renji meets an orange haired neko hybrid, but secrets about this creature lie within the shadows of the past.-Summary by Persistence- WARNING: YAOI!
1. Chapter 1

**Gekkouha**

_**Moonlight flower**_

_**Written by: Maru de Kusanagi**_

_Started: November 2, 2009_

_Ended: ¿?_

_Hi everyone! This is Maru! This is the first Bleach fic I write, and the second I ever do in English! This is one of two fics that I think I'll do, I'm not so sure about that yet. This is an AU and a very OCC fic, so please don't be mad at me! I've only saw the first 65 chapters of the anime, the second and third movie, read the 3 first manga volume and (too many?) fanfics. My favorite couple is Renji/Ichigo, but I think I made something like "everyone/Ichigo", there's Urahara/Ichigo, a little Bya/Ichi, and I don't know if another cup of Gin/Hitsu.... I'm not sure about that... Anyway, since I read too many Ichigo/dog! Renji and nothing of kitty! Ichigo, I decided to please myself a little. I was thinking about the game Lamento when I started to make form to this, but it's more of personal ramblings. Oh, I almost forgot! I need a beta reader! (pleaaaaaase!). Another warning is that I've wrote this in my pocket pc, and sometimes I miss the keys 'cos the portable keyboard is not quite the same as the common one._

_Disclaimer: bleach it's not mine. I wish it was. And I wish it was a shonen ai version of the manga. I only do this for pleasure of mine and (I hope) of others. ~_^ _

* * *

**CHAPTER 1**

Urahara almost didn't do it. Just looking at the two boys fast sleeping, one next to the other, made him smile and warm his heart. The orange fur cat and the white one, curled around each other was the sweetest thing he saw every day. Was a funny thing, actually, 'cos both boys never acted sweet when awake.

Ichigo, the orange cat, was a strong willed and very responsible one. His name was a something he hated to be teased about, but most of the costumers loved it. He came to live with Urahara almost seven years ago, with the white one. Toushirou was another thing. He didn't like to be touch or people next to him telling (yelling) _"shiro-chaaan!"_, like that girl, Momo, always did every time she came. Most of the time he stayed out of reach of the persons, and only accepted the company of Ichigo (who he called brother, never nothing the sad look in the older cat eyes) and Urahara. But when he needed to work, he did it, only with Ichigo assistance.

"Cut it already." Yoruichi voice brought him back of his toughs "anyone can see you drooling..."

"They are too cute, don't you think?" he said, avoiding the subject. "Kittens... Strawberry-chaaaaannn...... Shirooo-chaaaaannn... Time to wake...."

A chocolate eye looked at him, angry. Toushiro curled and tossed around, not waking.

"Don't make so much noise..." Ichigo said "Toushirou had a nightmare..."

"Again? I tough everything was fine..."

"His birthday is next week. He..." Ichigo got up after caressing the temple of Toushirou. That kid made him remember the past...

"Ok, he can stay a little more. But you'll need to make his morning duties." said Urahara, leaving.

" 'K."

"Must be hard. Being twenty in the body of a kid of twelve... " said Yoruichi.

"If I ever found who did this to him...."

"What? You know, that's the reason why we were created...."

"I know!" when angry, the point of the tail of Ichigo became all fluffy, and was something more hilarious than scary (even when that cat was really dangerous if pushed) "That's not an excuse! We are no toys!"

"Easy kid. It' early for so many talk." she said, walking away. "You and I have work to do. Let's go."

***************

The work at Uharaha's was something Ichigo got used to, what something he liked. Most of time he was an escort for some rich women's, who liked to show around what a cool accessory she had. He was took around different places, like parties or parks where he got bored, or sometimes, had to show some of his "specialties" to his current master. Man where a different thing, but he only new two of that matter. A long black haired noble liked to came once in a week, and drink tea or sake and talk to him. Behind the icy mask of that man, Ichigo new another face: a lonely man, tired of being it. Ichigo got along with him, and was happy that still that man never asked for something more.

The other man was the current owner. When Ichigo had no place to go, Urahara accepted him and gave him a place to stay. Not quite a home, but very close to. Some nights, after all the work has been done and Toushirou was fast sleep in his bed, Ichigo silently walked to Urahara's room. The blond man smiled lovingly, a different smile than the one always showed. Ichigo walked to him and let Urahara caress him, touch him, kiss him. He never forced himself into Ichigo, even when he had the right to, he never try to actual sex with him. In the beginning, started with lessons of how to please his masters and himself. Later, was because Urahara loved him and Ichigo knew that, and his heart ached for could not do the same. So, he walked every time to Urahara, to that room and stayed just before sunrise. But other thing that was also true was that his nature required him, he needed that attention or he felt he will go mad.

A nekobito (cat person) was a hard thing to be. He could not remember where he was born, or the name of his parents. He only remembered the pretty face of a woman smiling at him, holding him with love. Not much after that. He remembered being in the streets, being kicked, yelled, hated. The disgust in the eyes of the persons who looked at them, a small dirty child and a dirty white cat. Two creatures stealing, dwelling in the trash, biting to every person who tried to catch them. Then, one day, the peoples of the neighborhood got tired and called someone to take care of them. Someone to hunt them down.

They weren't humans, so nobody care about what happened to them.

Ichigo and Toushirou could escape of their chaser, only to crash in some lost place in the outskirts of Karakura. One shot passed true his left arm and in the right he hold the motionless body of Toushirou. The other kitty had received a shot and passed out.

"Well, what we have here?"

Ichigo saw a man with a strange hat and blond hair. When the man tried to touch them, he bite that hand. The man hit him hard in the face and Ichigo believed that that was the end. He clutched the other body to him, and closed his eyes.

"You'll protect him, even if it cost your life?" Ichigo opened his eyes and looked at the man, there's was no anger or hate in his eyes. "What's your name, kid?"

"Ichigo."

"Like the fruit? That's sweet."

"No! Like "a protector"! That's what mom said."

"And where's she?"

"Dead."

That was their first encounter. Urahara was a strange man indeed, but he saw the potential in the two creatures. He took them under his wing and give them a place to stay, he healed his body and started the healing of their souls.

Ichigo had the normal body of a young boy, only with the tail an ears of a cat, and the very unusual (well, for the Karakura standard) yellow hair. Beside that and the normal animal instinct that every cat person showed, he didn't see abnormal. He haven't learned how to use his abilities but he knew that was something easy to fix. Toushirou was another case. Usually, he spent most of the time in the form of a white cat with big green eyes, in a high place where he could see what happened around him and his brother. He never liked to peoples getting close to Ichigo, only accepted the costumers proximity. Only when he sleep and some other special occasions, he showed his true form, of a kid around thirteen, with white skin, and pretty ears. He was never going to get older, and that was also going to happen to Ichigo, if he ever mated.

"I'm ready."

"Oh, excellent! I need you to go to deliver this" Urahara gave him an ENOURMOUS BAG.

"What the hell is this...? Strawberry candy?! Are you making fun of me?!"

"No, nooo Ichigo. This is a deliver that Yoruichi does every month, but since she can't, you'll need to do it. Here's the address"

Ichigo read. A shinigami address.

"It's a good costumer, so be polite."

"I'm always polite."

"I know. I just wanted to tell you to be careful."

Ichigo walked the almost empty streets. It was still really early and the market activities were just starting Ichigo passed fast the people he crossed, even when his type weren't that uncommon, he didn't like to catch unnecessarily attention. One thing was being displayed at Urahara's, other was being harassed at the streets. He reached the address when he felt it. A smell, delicious, tempting. Calling him from the inside, exciting him. He never smelled anything like that before, but he knew what it was.

"Damn! I'm late!" the person did not saw him and Ichigo, lost in his thoughts, didn't do anything to avoid him. So, they crashed.

Ichigo opened the eyes and saw red. Red of blood, of passion. He felt like he could not breath, his senses where overwhelmed. The man was a little bigger than him, tanned skin with strange tattooed patterns across it. The hair was tied in a ponytail and wore a black kimono, the uniform of the shinigami. The man was talking... What...

"Hey, carrot head, are you deaf?! I'm making you a question!"

"What...?"

"I asked you: how are you going to fix this?"

The man was pointing at something... Glasses? Broken glasses... Under Ichigo's leg.

"That was pretty expensive, you know, carrot head?!"

"I have a name! It's Ichigo! And it's your fault for crash on me!"

"YOU where the one staying in the fucking way!"

Ichigo didn't answer. When he saw persons starting to get close, and realize the position of the two of them, he tried to get up.

"Move, I have work to do!"

A strong hand hold him down.

"I'm not joking, berry head! But since I have no time to lose around with you, I want to know where I can find you later. And don't lie to me 'cos I'll find you whenever you are."

"My owner name is Urahara. I live with him."

The other man let him and Ichigo got up. They were almost the same height. Red blood eyes looked straight to him, and Ichigo could not stop looking at them.

"I let you go now, but you'll know of me."

And with that, that red haired man left, not noticing the impression he made on the young cat. Ichigo felt his blood rush true his veins, the heart pounding in his chest, the heat rising from inside. His body responding to all this. Before anyone could see him liked that, he rushed to finish the deliver and run back to Urahara's.


	2. Chapter 2

**Gekkouha**

_**Moonlight flower**_

_**Written by: Maru de Kusanagi**_

_Started: November 2, 2009_

_Ended: ¿?_

_Disclaimer: bleach it's not mine. I wish it was. And I wish it was a shonen ai version of the manga. I only do this for pleasure of mine and (I hope) of others. ~_^ _

**CHAPTER 2**

Ichigo looked around him. The place was really, really a mess. And he must do something about it.

"How can you live like this? I'm a cat and even I have the sense of cleaning."

"Shut it! I accepted the deal ok? I don't have to hear your complaints."

Ichigo walked inside the small place. Even being a lieutenant, this was cheap.

"I come back around seven. I know that the deal was a month working free, but you can go if you finish early."

"Oh, you're not worry that I can broke anything else, or steal you?"

"I know that you won't do anything like that, your boss is somebody that don't lie about that stuff."

"Renji! Are you ready?!" a feminine voice called from outside. Was a young voice. Ichigo noted the change of Renji's expression and something inside him ached. Why?

"Yeah!" he turned to Ichigo "Just don't let anyone see you, I don't want to catch a weird reputation."

"With that looks, you don't need me" said Ichigo, but Renji didn't heard him. Renji left and Ichigo saw a small girl, with black hair and purple eyes. Renji talked with a happy expression with her meanwhile walking.

Only when he could no longer see them, Ichigo started to work. Yesterday he crossed Renji and broke his glasses, a very expensive one, something that Urahara said was as expensive like a month of Ichigo work as escort. Ichigo did not understand many about money, that thing he only knew brought trouble, but was also the thing that got you a roof over your head, a bed where to sleep and food in your plate. Since Ichigo did not have the money and Renji needed somebody to take care of his house cleaning, was an easy deal (especially when Renji's boss was one the most important client of Urahara, and had special interest in Ichigo). So, Ichigo was going to spent a month in Renji's place and, for some reason, this excited him and also afraid him.

-----------

"Why did you take so long? And why did you make me call you from the street? I know how messy is your place."

"I know."

Rukia punched him in the head.

"That's all the excuse you are going to give me?!"

"It's only that…"

"That you have a boy to do your house cleaning? My brother told me about it."

"He did?!"

"Hey, not a big deal. I've heard he's a nekobito, right?"

"Yeah." Mentally, Renji was making a promise of killing his captain for telling Rukia about that. "But you know, it wasn't my idea of taking him into my place for a month!"

"Hey, not a big deal. Many people have a nekobito to do their house things."

"And other things! I'm not that type of perv!"

"Who said that? You worry too much, you know?"

"Just tell you're not telling anyone."

"Yeah… from now on…"

"WHAT?"

Renji must spent all day with the teasing and questions of his friends. Momo and Orihime knew Ichigo and Toushirou, so, they wanted to go to Renji's place to spend some time with the pretty cat.

"Ichigo it's just too cute when teased, you know?" said Orihime, winking at him.

"I really don't want to know what are you thinking… he's only taking care of the things…"

"I've heard his type are really good at _**those**_ things…"

Momo blushed.

"You mean…"

"Hey! Cut it!"

"Come on, Renji! Don't keep such a cute thing only to you! I'll bough some sake!"

No matter how tempting it sounded, Renji knew that letting those two in his house was not a good idea. After many "no", they give up.

At seven, he was at home again. He believed for a second that this was another person house. Everything was in order and clean.

"Ichigo?" when he got no response, he thought that the cat kid had left. In his room he found a surprise.

Ichigo was curled in the bed, sleeping with a peaceful face over a kimono of Renji. That was weird, but weirder was him sitting next to the kitten, reaching to the pointy ears and touching them. So soft. The hair was also very soft. Renji never touched something so soft. Still sleeping, Ichigo started to purr, moving the head, reaching for the touch, like a child when his mother caressed him. The kid was cute, he won't denied that. And he won't denied that he had his adventures with the same gender. Maybe fooling a little with this cat wasn't wrong, he needed some of that… Ichigo worked as an escort, so, he should be used to. When he opened the eyes, he found Renji looking at him, a strange expression in his eyes. Then he reacted: he was being touched by a stranger! Faster, he got up.

"Welcome home." Ichigo said, sitting in the bed. "Sorry for this."

"You kidding? You did a great job! I should giving thanks to you."

Ichigo didn't know why under the look of those eyes he found himself suddenly nervous. The smell of Renji captivated him, his body close made him feel his heat so close… this was very different as how he felt for Urahara or Toushirou. Ichigo found this man very, very attractive, more than any other man or women he meet before. He could feel that call of his blood, sending him towards Renji. And he did not know what to do, because that was not a part of the arrangement and he never was with somebody who made him feel this way.

"I didn't do anything for dinner. You want me to do something?" Ichigo, trying to sound all the natural he could, got down of the bed. Renji saw the uneasiness on the cat and found it very attractive.

"Sure, but aren't you going to going back too late to your master's place?"

"I… he said that I should do all what you request meanwhile it's on the agreement."

Ichigo found hard to face that man. His energy was intoxicating, his body trembled. This was not ok.

"What if I want to eat strawberries?"

Ichigo found himself trapped like a mouse: the wall behind him, the taller form of Renji over him.

_God, this man got me… and I want him.._

Ice. The hand of Renji was frozen just an inch in front of Ichigo's face. That was Toushirou power.

"Don't touch my brother!" said the cat, jumping just above of Renji's head.

"What?"

"Toushirou! That are you doing here?"

The white cat jumped to Ichigo's shoulder, rubbing his nose to his face.

"I came to see why you haven't came back. So, he was trying to do hurt you? I'll punish him." The green eyes shoot daggers at Renji. So, this was another like Ichigo.

"I think that what we do it's not something that should bother you," Renji said "Your brother is a big boy, you know? He can make his decisions."

"I'll kill you!" the cat jumped to the floor and his white fur shined, a white fog surrounded his frame. Renji knew then that the small cat was a little overprotective.

"Toushirou, stop it!"

Automatically, Toushirou stop and turned to look at his brother.

"But…"

"I'm sorry about this, Abarai-san." Ichigo bowed "My brother it's young and he's not used to the outside people's. I think we should got back to Urahara's place. I'll come back tomorrow, it's that ok?"

The mood was so tense that Renji decided it was ok to leave the things like this. Ichigo and Toushirou left the place just when the moon was starting to glow in the night sky.

"You should not come back! I don't like that man!"

"Why? You never said anything about the others…"

"The others where different, they were educated enough to request that type of thing to Urahara. And you know I don't want you to suffer what I have."

"Toushirou, you know I'll never let anyone force on me. Mom died for getting us free, and we have a huge debt with Urahara, so, you know I'll never do anything against his orders."

"Fine. But you like that man, right?"

"Yeah…"

"You should be careful, Ichi. You forget that you are very attractive to all humans, because we, the cats, have very strong pheromones when me reach puberty."

"I think I should talk to Urahara about this…"

-----------

Kisuke was happy to see his children back and safe. His Ichigo was home, but something was not right. Ichigo looked a little ashamed when he asked about his day. Something has happened, he was sure. After dinner, he called the orange cat to his dorm.

"What happened today, Ichigo?"

Ichigo could never hide something to Urahara. The man was very perceptive, even when he never showed how sharp his perception was. Ichigo sat in the floor.

"Today was normal. I did all the cleaning, then, I got tired and decided to rest a little. I curled on the bed, and I found very soothing the smell in a kimono. Then, Ren- Abarai-san came back and I felt… strange."

"Like what?"

"I… my body was hot, my breath heavy. His smell was," Ichigo found himself blushing "… delicious."

"Did he touch you or something?" Urahara's voice has plain. He knew this was something Ichigo found difficult to speak about it.

"No… but he wanted."

"And you?"

"I… I'm not sure."

"Finally!" the playful tone in his master voice got Ichigo out if his memories. Urahara hide his face under a fan "You are going into heat! You are a little retarded in that, but finally your reaching the maturity. Maybe your pheromones make Renji desire you."

"So… was only that? A reaction to my body smell?"

"Well, I think, but only he can answer that. "seeing a little of disappointing in the boy's eyes, he said "Do you like him, don't you? Yeah, he's a really attractive man, but I thought you'll choose Kuchiki-san before."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. You know what this mean, right? If you mate with him, your body will stop growing and you'll live the rest of your life like this. If you mate with a man, you'll never have any offspring, because your kind can only conceive in his first mating, that's why there's so little of you."

"Yes," Ichigo ears fell down "but I think it's better if there's no more of us. We were never meant to exist in the first place. We are only a toy that some crazy man did a long time ago."

"Ichigo," Urahara hand caressed the cat face "don't said that. Even has that, your existence has a meaning. You have the right, like anyone else, to fall in love and to be with the person you choose."

"Then, it's ok?"

"Only if it's what you want."

------------------

Please, review!


	3. Chapter 3

**Gekkouha**  
_**Moonlight flower**_

_**Author: Maru de Kusanagi**_

_Started: November 2, 2009  
Ended: ¿?_

_I'm back at last! I was on vacations away from home and surviving to the summer of Argentina (really, a summer with 40 Cº its hell!). I took me pocket pc with me, but I had no time, desire and no internet connection to write something, but I was thinking hard in this story. I must say, I started this and never though too much about it, but I saw that some people it's interested in this, so, I promise this: I'll try to keep your hopes up, and thank you for giving me a chance. So… I'll try to keep Ichi like the one in the manga, but I don't think it will come out like that…_

_**Disclaimer:**__ Bleach it's not mine. I wish it was. _

_**WARNINGS:**__ yaoi, some drug abuse mentioned, BAD GRAMMAR (really! I need a beta reader!)_

****=^..^=****

**CHAPTER 3  
**Two days after the conversation that Ichigo had with Urahara, he still couldn't confront Renji and get his feelings towards the redhead in order. Luckily for him, the next morning he found a note in the door, saying that Renji was designated to some mission and was going to be away for a few days. He could enter to the house and check everything was in order, but, without Renji, he didn't feel like making anything, even when he really hasn't been close to men.

So, that morning, he did not take his usual way to the redhead's place, he took a detour that usually avoid because it crossed a place where you can usually get the attention of unwanted persons, especially when was still early in the morning. There, you could see the motionless frame of various kids that had poisoned their bodies with that that shit called "PACO **(1)**" laying in the streets. Ichigo knew how bad that kind of shit was, so, he always avoided that stuff when he was another street rat. He wanted to live, and protect Toushirou. But, upset like he was, he did not take attention to where his foots took him.

Tree mans cut his way in the front, other two his sides and other tree at his back. Ichigo was no coward and was very aware of his own strength. Dealing with eight guys was not easy, but not something he couldn't take care.

"Pet, did yah lost the way?"

"Or where you kick out?"

"Nah, this one looks too clean. He must have a master."

Ichigo looked at them and stretched his arms. Long time he didn't have a nice fight…

A quick hit with the elbow in the stomach at his right, a punch in the face to the front, avoided a punch at his back, a kick to the left and jumped to a side. The first guy was without air and laid in the floor, the other contained a bloody nose with his hands, and the other six came after him. One got him from the back, restraining the movements of his arms meanwhile another came directly to punch his face. Ichigo pushed the man away with a quick kick but couldn't avoid a punch in the stomach from another and that was followed by another hit in his face. He could taste the blood in the mouth, like so many other occasions before. He reacted hitting with his head to his captor, who released him, feeling dizzy. Ichigo also felt the head heavy, but he couldn't let his body fail now. Still five to take care…

He lost it then. He knew his body moved, attacked and reacted, but was something he did not register. He let his instincts take care and only stopped when he saw no more movements around him.

_(sorry, I'm bad writing fighting scenes!)_

He looked at his hands: bruised and bloody, if Urahara or Toushirou saw him like that, he will got in trouble. He had prohibited fighting in the streets (and enjoying it), Urahara surely will chain him to the table for a week at last! Ichigo licked the blood in his hands, trying to get them clean. He needed to get himself clean, and he did not want to go to Renji's place if he wasn't there. When his hands were clean of blood (but the smell was still there), he started to walk. After walking for 20 minutes, his nose got the scent of something familiar.

****=^..^=****

Even when he was a person used to control his emotions, he couldn't avoid showing his surprise when seeing the orange cat in his front door, all bruised, dirty and disarranged. Byakuya Kuchiki knew that Ichigo was very emotional because of his age, but he never expected to ever see him like that. The cat explained that meanwhile he was going to his work place, he was assaulted by some street rats and he escaped from them, but, since he did not want to his master and little brother got upset, he walked away looking for a place to arrange himself.

Byakuya let the cat in, and called his servants to prepare the bath and some clean clothes for the boy. Ichigo was sure this was going to cost him, but he never thought how high the price was going to be.

After cleaning himself, Ichigo put on a soft yukata that the servants left for him.

"Are you ready?"

Ichigo tuned to look to the origin of the voice. It was another cat, young like himself, only with black tail and black ears. It had beep blue eyes behind some square glasses and wore white robes **(2)**. He was carrying a small case. The black cat closed the door behind him and approached to Ichigo.

"My name is Uryu. My master ordered me to check your wounds before sending you to him."

"I'm Ichigo, nice to mee-"

"Where are you hurt?" Uryu cut him sharp, opening the case. It was a med kit.

"Ouch! Hey, be careful!" yelled Ichigo when Uryu grabbed his left arm with force.

"If you don't tell me," Ichigo saw the hate in the icy look of those blue eyes, why this cat hated him so much? "I need to touch you then." Was the cold reply of the black cat.

Yep, definitely, that one hated him!

A heavy silence fell between the two, only cut by the short questions of Uryu (_'where?' 'And here?_'), and the monosyllabic answers of Ichigo (_'yes', 'no'_). The black cat did a good job, tough: he cleaned the wounds and wrapped those that needed.

"You are ready now." Uryu said, closing the med kit case and put it aside. "My master is waiting for you in his studio."

It was then that the orange cat could feel the enormous sense of possession the black put in his voice when he said "my master". This cat was… jealous.

"Follow me."

Ichigo walked behind Uryu, admiring the elegant way of the black cat when he moved. He must be a selected breed, raised exclusively for a noble owner. Ichigo looked around and noted the luxury of the place, he has never walked in a place like this. Uryu stopped in front of a door.

"Here."

"Thank you-"

"I don't need your gratitude."

Before Ichigo could make any answer to the rude words of the other, Uryu ignored him and announced them. The elegant voice of Byakuya invited them to enter.

Byakuya was sitting in the floor, in front a traditional Japanese table. His long black hair was loose, enhancing his attractive features.

"Approach and sit down, Ichigo. Uryu, serve the tea."

Ichigo obeyed and looked how Uryu poured the hot water in the cup and give with a very elegant way to his master, and the absolutely look of love in the eyes of the black cat. Even himself, being very naïve in those things, could see it. Uryu poured water in other cup and gave to Ichigo.

"Thank you. Leave us alone, we have some things to discuss."

"Yes, Byakuya-sama."

Uryu left the room, not forgetting to give another hard glare to Ichigo. And Ichigo understand it: he was an invader. He was a stranger in his territory, and Uryu was saying with his hard attitude that he doesn't want him there. The sense of possession towards his master, the hard glares, the loving way (there's was no other way to put it) he attended his master screamed it. And Ichigo understood that he was very egoist coming to this place without even considering what his presence could cause.

"I'll like you to give you my thanks, Kuchiki-san, for your help. And I'm sorry for the trouble."

"It's no problem. But I'll like to know why somebody like you was in that area when my lieutenant place it's in the other way, and from your master's place there's a short way to reach it." Byakuya drink calmly his tea, looking directly to Ichigo's eyes. The orange cat couldn't avoid showing his nervousness moving his tail side to side.

"I got lost… I was thinking in something and before I knew it, I was already surrounded."

Byakuya put his cup in the table.

"Your tea is going to get cold."

"Sorry." Ichigo drank.

"I've heard from your master that you reached the time to get a mate, and it seems that you're not interest in having offspring. Have you selected the man you like?"

Ichigo almost choked: Urahara had told Byakuya about that! He wanted to kill him! But again, he was in debt with Urahara, so, if he wanted to sell him, he would be ok with that.

"Well… yeah…" his tail wagged more nervously "… but I'm not sure yet."

Byakuya pierced him with his eyes. If something, he hated lies.

"And he told me you like Abarai."

Ichigo felt like he was caught doing something wrong. So, he decided to be as sincere as he could.

"I… do. I did not want to tell you that because I know that it can be insulting to a person of your status that I chose somebody of a lower rank. And that's not something I was trying to do."

Byakuya drank other sip of his tea.

"I must admit that it's a little unpleasant. I never asked for a contract of exclusivity with you, but I was thinking of the possibility. But, already having a male cat, I was thinking of taking you to another place, because I know how territorial you cats are."

"Uryu looks like a good cat…"

"He's… my wife and I could not have children… she choose him when he was around five years old. After she died, I couldn't leave him, and he did not want to leave, so I let him stay. He always was a very obedient and silent. But, with the time, we lost the way to connect to each other, and when I saw you, I remembered the way his eyes bright when he was a child."

Byakuya felt silent. Ichigo always knew that this was a man who felt very lonely. That was something he never understood about humans, they desired each other and even then, they never acted by their desire. Specially shinigamis, they lived so long and tended to think so much about stuff that never acted according to their desire. Because he knew Uryu loved his master and wanted nothing more than to be with him, and hearing Byakuya telling him how the black cat came to live with him, and that he was having an internal conflict with desiring the cat. The problem wasn't desiring a cat, the thing was desiring this cat in particular.

Seeing this, Ichigo was sure he was not going to wait eternally to see if Renji was in love with him. He at least was going to be with him once.

"A connection like that it's never lost, Kuchiki-san."

****=^..^=****

_**1:**__ 'PACO' it's an actual drug, and, sadly, very common in Argentina. It's also called "pasta base" (base paste), and it's usually smoked. It's the cheapest drug and one of the most addictives and harmful shit you can get and ever put in your body, so, please, NEVER try it. _

_**2:**__ for the image I have of the neko! Uryu, you should look for the doushinji "Lovely Secret" by the circle Velvet-Heaven. I love the way Uryu its draw there! I think you can found it at DANGEROUS PLEASURES, but I know I got it from other place…_

_This was really hard to write, even when I've already planned it so much! __Please, read and review._


	4. Chapter 4

**Gekkouha**

_**Moonlight flower**_

**Author: Maru de Kusanagi**

**Started: November 2, 2009**

**Ended: ¿?**

_I must warn everybody about this chapter: it's about Ichigo origins in this fic. And it's… strange, for keeping it simple. The thing is, this fic it's based in an original story of mine that I never end writing and it has a little of hen/ecchi stuff… also, some lolikon, but, that's not for this story… yeah, I do watch hentai, because you can find some interesting things there… but this fic it's yaoi, remember._

_**Disclaimer:**__ Bleach it's not mine. I wish it was. _

_**WARNINGS**__: yaoi, weird pairings, bad grammar, crazy writer! BTW, I have nothing against Masaki. _

_**Thanks to:**_** jgood27** _and_ **PERSISTENCE,** _I love you! Your'e now officially my beta reader, and I'm eternally grateful to you. This chapter explains a little the origins of our kittens, I hope you like it. And all the persons who keep this fic in their watch list!_

****=^..^=****

**CHAPTER 4:**

It was a hot summer night, and the cicadas were singing, even at that late in the night **(1)**. Masaki walked through the park from her office towards the bus stop. She hated the summer shifts, always finishing so late when the rest of the world has already eat, showered and was fast sleep (or enjoying the company of somebody) in their beds. And there was the always present danger that a lonely woman had to face in a silent night. Just a week ago, she saw on the news that a girl was found dead after being assaulted in a park near her house. There was a rumor that the girl was attacked not by a man, but by some sort of animal, a demi-human.

She hadn't been near of any demi-human, because they were uncommon and it's was still shameful to let anyone know, man or woman, had some sort of pleasure meeting that sort of creature. She also heard that the creatures liked places like this park, and she had a secret desire of meeting one of them.

Masaki sat in a bench and looked to the starry sky. Some fireflies flew around her. It was hot; she felt her body dirty because of the sweat. Then she remembered that nobody waited for her at home. She was alone, and many times she was picked up by her coworkers because of that. But her life was easy: she ended her studies, got a job and rented a nice small place. She didn't have money to access, but it was ok. She had a routine and her life ran without surprises. Masaki unbuttoned the collar of her shirt and passed a hand trough her hair. She sighed, closing the eyes. She wanted a change! She wanted passion! She wanted something, anything that changed her dull way of life.

Oh, but we know, right?

_Don't make wishes that you don't want to become real…_

In a second, everything changed.

A strong hand grabbed her hair and threw her to the path; she felt the small pebbles against her skin, piercing it. When she tried to get up, a heavy weight pushed her to the ground, hands grabbing her arms and tied them to her back. When she raised her head to finally scream, she was pushed hard against the ground again. One hand was holding her head and the other reaching under the skirt, touching her shamelessly.

"No!"

"Quiet or I'll break your neck! And don't think I'll stop there!"

Hot tears blinded Masaki's eyes. _God, God, help me…!_

"Bitch, don't act like that! All of you are the same!"

The hand ripped her panties off and she struggled again. Her attacker hit her head and threw her to the ground without mercy. Masaki lip was parted and started to bleed.

"Ready, bitch?"

_God, God, don't let this happen to me! Forgive me for what I asked! I don't want this!_

A scream ripped the silence of the night. Masaki felt something warm soak her body and attacker. Her eyes were lost in an expression of pain and surprise. It was a colleague of her work! What was the name? Johnny? Why did it matter now? And then she realized that his head was missing the body.

She turned to look back, and then saw it: a cat-man, clawing the body of Johnny with its paws. She was terrified and in some ways, fascinated by the creature. Under the dim light of the park, she could see golden fur and bright yellow eyes, so full of energy.

_What do I do? If I run, this animal will kill me like that poor bastard! _

Her heart was pounding strong in her chest, more than before, when she has been about to be raped. Her legs moved, gaining some distance between the cat, the body and herself. Then the cat, that was cleaning his paws with his tongue, turned his attention to her and walked to where she was. Masaki froze in the place when the cat reached to her.

_This is the end!_

The tongue of the creature was hot and soft. It touched her cheek with care, caressing her bruises. Masaki stopped breathing when the cat licked the cut in her lip. The tongue was rough and hot, and she felt her body relax. She felt safe, and, somehow, she realized that the cat was not going to hurt her. Her senses were intoxicated with the cat's pheromones.

****=^..^=****

The constant beating at her door and the ringing on the doorbell retrieve her back to reality. She smelled the perfume she used for her bed sheets and then thought that everything was just a weird dream…

"Masaki! Are you there? Masaki!" it was a feminine voice.

Her head felt heavy, like having a hangover.

"Yes!" she answered, "I'm going…"

A strong arm was around her waist and golden tail sneaked around her leg. The soft fur of pointy ears caressed her naked breast. Naked. She was completely naked, like the cat-man in her bed with her.

Masaki covered her mouth: she almost screamed!

"Masaki! It's everything ok?"

_What…?_

All reality crushed down on her and even when she denied it, when she tried to forget, she remembered everything.

Slowly, she got free of the cat's embrace and put a long shirt to cover her body. Carefully, she closed the bedroom door and walked to the front door.

"Jesus! What happened to you?" asked her coworker when she opened it.

"I…got a very nasty flu…and I…fell and hit my head…"

"And you couldn't call work to say that you were sick? It's been three days!"

"Three…three days…?"

"Yes, three days."

"I got a very strong fever..."

"So, you mustn't know then: Johnny, the guy from Human Resources, was found dead in the park! It looks like he was attacked by some animal. His head was chopped off!" when Masaki heard this, a chill ran down her spine "But some rumors say that he was the responsible of the recent attacks to the girls in the area, because his semen was positive with the samples of the victims…"

"Excuse me!" Masaki ran to the bathroom and threw up. The blood and the sensation of that night all came back to her.

"Hey, are you alright?"

Masaki flushed.

"Yeah…no, I'm not fine yet…can you tell our supervisor that I'll not be going in today?"

"Do you want me to call a doctor?"

"No, the worst already passed… I just need to rest a little more."

"Ok. I'll come back later."

"Yeah, thank you. See you later."

Masaki waited while sitting on the cold floor of the bathroom for the sound of the door closing.

_What I'm going to do? What if they find out that I was attacked by him, and got rescued by a demi-human? And that I had sex with that creature?_

She got up and washed her face with cold water.

_What I'm going to do…?_

Slowly, she walked to her back to her room. It was empty. She sat in the bed and it was still warm. Maybe the cat left after satisfying his desires, or maybe got scared of from the noise her coworker made and escaped. Maybe everything would end here.

The next day, the cat did not come back, and she went to work like usual. Her friends were happy to see her back in shape and the day passed like always. When her shift was about to end, she was called by her supervisor for a meeting at his office.

"Kurosaki-san, I want you to meet officer Madarame. He's in charge of the case about Johnny's death."

Masaki felt her body tremble.

"Miss. Kurosaki, I'd like to ask some questions. Were you an acquaintance of this man?" asked the police officer.

Masaki swallowed before answering.

"Not quite. I've seen him during work, like any others, but I've never spoken more than four of five times with him."

The man looked at her as if analyzing her movements and her attitude.

"Never saw anything unusual about his behavior?"

"No."

The man brought something out of his pocket. It was Masaki's panties in a plastic bag and in another bag were strands of orange hair: her hair. Masaki felt her pulse freeze in her veins.

"Do you recognize these things?"

"I…"

"I want you to know that I'm just after the truth. Did he attack you?"

Masaki lowered her face. Hot tears fell from her eyes as she shook her head

'yes'. She was so ashamed!

"What happened?"

"I don't remember…he hit me…after that, everything was a blur…the next thing I remember was being in my apartment yesterday and woke up because of a call at my door…"

"Why you didn't go to the police?"

"As I said…I don't remember much…I was… lost…"

Her supervisor gave her some tissues to wipe the tears. Madarame watched the woman for a while. Even though she wasn't the one who killed the bastard (because it was impossible that one simple woman did that sort of thing to a man with her bare hands), he was sure that she knew who did. He was absolutely positive about it, but for some reason she did not wanted to say it. Maybe it was her lover who killed the other man when he saw him attacking her? Maybe…

"You should go to the hospital for some exams and some prophylactics measurements, so you can avoid any possible STD or…"

Just hearing this, Masaki wanted to run. No, nobody could see her body! Her supervisor saw her distress.

"Sir, can we leave it here? She's not fine."

"Yes. Miss Kurosaki, if you remember something, please give me a call."

Masaki received the card with an absent expression. Even if the cat was an assassin and animal, she owed her life to him. She would never say who killed that man.

****=^..^=****

The week passed. A month passed and she did not see the cat. Meanwhile, everybody at the office avoided talking about the rapist coworker in front of her. Masaki felt fine with the exception of the meeting with the police officer and after a while, she believed that the whole ordeal ended. But her stomach did not stop upsetting her. First, she thought it was because of the heat and that she needed to drink more liquids, but after a few days her condition remained the same. A few unwanted fears ran through her. Fear that enhanced when she found on a website that a woman can conceive to a demi-human! And her fears were confirmed after she got a home pregnancy test.

_I'm pregnant…!_

She felt like her life was over. What was going to be born from her womb? How could she walk on the street and when somebody asked her about her state, what she was going to say? This and a thousand other questions ran through her head. Meanwhile she cried bitterly, making herself into a ball on the bed. She wanted to die.

_I could get rid of it. And nobody will know…_

She saw the image of the male cat who saved her from the rapist, only to get to her. The worst part was she had never felt so much pleasure before with any other lover, and her cheeks burned of shame when she remembered this. Then the image of a child appeared in front of her: a pretty boy with orange hair and a big smile calling for her. The child had the pointy ears and tail of a cat. **(2)**

"No! What if it's a monster? What do I do then?"

Outside it started to rain. She forgot to close the window, and when she approached it the cat appeared. Masaki fell to the floor.

"What… what do you want? I didn't tell them! I didn't say anything about you! Leave me alone, please!"

With elegant movements, the cat approached to her. Masaki trembled. The cat crouched in front of her and sniffed her scent. Then, like a cat that was happy to see his master, rubbed his head against her stomach, purring.

"You… you can't speak, right? But you like me…"

The cat looked at her with his golden eyes. The creature may not understand what she said, but in his eyes were filled with love. Masaki felt herself blush. The cat rubbed his head again against her stomach, and she caressed the ears that reminded her of a sweet kitten asking for attention. **(3)**

"You know it, right? That I'm pregnant…that's why you came? To see if everything was fine?"

The cat hugged her. Masaki smiled, running a hand through the silk hair.

"Thank you…"

They stayed like that for a while. Masaki felt his body being lulled by the sound of the rain and the warm body of the cat soother her. Just for a while, everything was perfect.

Just for a while.

The cat got up, hissing. Masaki heard the noise at the door; somebody was trying to break it down.

"Careful! There's an innocent woman inside!"

That was the voice of Madarame!

"Calm down!" she said to the cat "I can convince them! Stay still!"

Many armed men barged inside. The cat roared and hissed, putting himself between the police officers and Masaki. He was protecting her and his child.

"Miss Kurosaki! Apart from that creature! It's dangerous! It already tasted human blood, we need to kill it!"

Masaki saw the guns pointing to the cat.

"No! He saved me!" she said, trying to cover the cat. "I would be dead if it wasn't for him!"

"Even knowing that, he still committed murder and he's responsible for that. And since he's not human and he does not understand what he did, and is a beast, there's no other way to deal with this, Miss Kurosaki."

"Sir, I have a clear shot!"

"No!" Masaki hugged the cat, covering him with his body. The cat saw the danger and turned them, covering Masaki with his body. A strong detonation could be heard and Masaki felt the body of the cat heavy and warm cover her.

"Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"

"Objective neutralized. The hostage is fine."

Someone separated her from the dead body. Masaki screamed and kicked, she wanted to be left alone. She saw the police officers kick the motionless body of the cat. Then another put the body in a big bag. Masaki thrashed, she wanted to escape. Somebody held her down and pain entered her arm causing her realize that a needle injected something into her bloodstream. _No, the baby!_

Quickly, everything was covered by the shadows.

The next day, Madarame visited Masaki in her hospital room. She was tied to the bed and still and looking at the ceiling. Some screens showed her heart signs were regularity. The doctor told him that she was healthy and had no wounds on her.

"Sexual assault?"

"No, but she did have recent sexual activities. There's no proof that was forced and there's no injuries or marks on the body, but if it happened a month ago there's nothing that could tell us now." The doctor lowered his voice: "She's pregnant and in a very early state."

"Can I talk to her?"

"Well she's emotionally stable, but she refuses to talk to anyone. You can try, but please, do not release her."

"Thank you, doctor."

Madarame entered the room and sat down next to her bed.

"Miss Kurosaki, why didn't you say anything? I'm not your enemy; I just want to know the truth. That cat was your lover?"

Masaki did not respond. She kept looking straight. Madarame sighed.

"I'm very sorry about all this, but the orders were: when some of those creatures hurt a human being, it must be killed. They are too wild and there's no certainty that it won't do it again. Even if it was protecting somebody…" Masaki turned to look at him.

"He wasn't going to hurt anyone. He wasn't a wild beast, he understood." A few tears ran down her cheeks "He… loved me… I don't know why, we never crossed paths before and the first time I saw him was that night in the park…he saved me then and chose me. And he gave his life to protect us."

"If it's his child, they going to take the baby out."

"What?! No! It's my baby and it's my choice!"

"The law says that in these cases…an unwanted or unexpected child of a demi-human conceived under uncommon circumstances must be discharged… even when the human parent wants to keep it."

"I won't let them touch my baby!" she struggled to get free; she needed to escape from this place. Madarame put a hand over one of hers.

"I know. That's why I'm going to help you."

Madarame took out his cell and made a call. "Yumi? Yeah, I need your help."

Twenty minutes later, a man with a feminine grace, silky black hair and some strange feather-like things coming of his eyelashes appeared with a backpack. Madarame closed the door and Yumikicha freed Masaki of the bed.

"What a pretty lady! You need some nice clothes!"

"Yumi, make it fast." said Madarame, checking that nobody approached.

"You never let me do what I want… ok, you're Masaki, right? Ikkaku told about you and what happened. We know about forbidden love, so, we are going to help you."

Masaki blinked. Did that mean what she was thinking?

Yumikicha helped Masaki to get dressed. He gave her a loose black t-shirt, a pair of male pants and a black wig, under which he hide her orange hair. When she was ready, they acted normal and left the hospital. They got inside of a car and drove; slow first and faster as they got further away.

"Man, that was heavy!" said Yumikicha. "Oh, here." he gave a bag to Masaki.

"What's this…?" she opened and saw some documents with her photo, but under another last name and money.

"It's not much, but it will help you." said Madarame, without taking his eyes off the road. Making forge documents that actually looked just like the original from one day to the other almost left him broke. "You should take a train or bus somewhere nobody knows you, a small town or so…we will help you avoid any info about your disappearance and your whereabouts that are investigated. For us, this case it's officially closed."

"And you can't go back to your apartment. Don't worry, we'll send you your things after you find a place." said Yumi.

Masaki smiled. "Thank you…"

A few months later, in a town called Karakura, Masaki gave birth to a child. It's hard to say how long it took because the pregnancy of a crossbreed was different. Masaki loved her child from the second she saw him: it was just like she imagined him before the escape from his hometown. She wrapped him in a blanket with strawberry patterns, and called him:

"Ichigo."

****=^Φ.Φ^=****

**NOTES**

_**1-**damn bugs. It's 2 AM and they are still singing!  
__**2-**I love the 3 volume of the manga, when small Ichigo is shown, such a cute child! And I almost cried when he saw the body of his mom.  
__**3-**Neko! Ichigo can speak because he has more human blood than cat blood. His 'cat dad' was a pure breed that was born from the mate of two of his kind, and that's why it acts more like a cat and don't have the ability to talk. Ichigo it's more human, like neko! Toushirou, but Toushirou it's born from a cat mother and human father, and that's why he can transform in a cat and Ichigo can't._

_Please, read and review! Read you in the next chapter! Chapter 5 its on his way, but tomorrow my vacations ends, so, the updates will turn a little slower._


	5. Chapter 5

**Gekkouha  
**_**Moonlight flower**_

_**Author: Maru de Kusanagi**_

_**Started: November 2, 2009**_

_**Ended: ¿?**_

_So sorry for the delay! I got to caught up at work, I had my nephew birthday party to attend and a little of writer block. Ok, I hope the last chapter wasn't so strange, it was easy to write because it was something I had from some time in my head. In this one, we catch up with Renji and let's see what happens when they meet again, nyah!_

_**Disclaimer:**__ Bleach it's not mine. I wish it was. I'm only borrowing them for a while._

_**WARNINGS**__: Yaoi, weird pairings, weird stuff, bad grammar, crazy writer! _

_**Question**__: anyone find out where did I get the name of this fic?_

_**Terminology for this story **__(_there was some questions about this, sorry, I tend to assume that everybody it's used to some terms_)__**:  
**_**DEMI-HUMAN:** _a half animal person, like the nekobito.  
_**NEKO:**_ 'cat' in Japanese.  
_**NEKOBITO:**_ it means 'cat person', and I made up this one. It's the conjunction of "neko" and "hito" (_person_). The Japanese grammar makes the 'h' change to a 'b' in this, like in the word _KOIBITO_ (_love + person_), that means 'lover'._

****=^..^=****

**CHAPTER 5  
**Another day rose in Karakura. Hunting hollows was part of his duty as a shinigami and Renji usually enjoyed using his spare energy in this activity, especially when it meant avoiding paper work. However this time he wasn't in the mood. Leaving the orange kitty at home made him feel uneasy.

"Wake up!" Rukia said, punching him in the head "What's wrong with you today? Being all gloomy is not like you."

"Sorry, I think that I'm just bored..."

"Because you can't be with the kitty back home?"

"Wha- shut up."

"Tell me, have you done anything with him?"

"What? I won't tell you that!" Renji felt an unexpected blush in his face.

"So you did!"

"No! I mean, I won't tell you anything because I know what you'll do with the info."

"Come on, how long have we known each other? I can keep a secret."

"Yeah, only to share it with all the crazy women at the _Shinigami Women's Association_."

Rukia pouted, "You're mean."

"Yeah, yeah."

Their cell phones rang at last and Renji was grateful for it.

Karakura was a town in the outskirts of Soul Society, (_to avoid problems, let's say that Soul Society and Karakura are in the same plane, like Seiretei and Rukongai in the original story of Tite Kubo_). It was mostly populated by retired or rejected shinigamis (like Urahara), humans (like Masaki), and demi-humans (nekobitos, like Ichigo, Toushirou and Ishida, was one of the races classified in this last type - _yeah, there'll be more!_). Protecting Karakura was a very important task because of this.

"But you know," Rukia said while they were going to the point the message indicated "Ichigo really likes you. He's usually very wild and unfriendly and only approaches people because of a job and he never shares anything personal. I always saw him as a lonely boy, even when he's always with his brother."

"You mean that white cat?" the image of piercing green eyes shining with cold energy came to Renji's mind.

"Oh, you know him?" observed Rukia and Renji only grunted "That's Toushirou and he is a nekobito, just like Ichigo. But he chose to live the rest of his life in the form of a cat. And I've also heard that he's older than Ichigo."

They reached a place in the woods that was clear. There was proof of some old man's construction destroyed by the time. Some birds sang in the branches, announcing the apparition of strangers.

"What does the info say?"

"It says this is the place."

Renji unsheathed his zanpakutou, but something wasn't right. Places like this with no living or dead soul around, why would a hollow appear there?

"I think there's an old shrine over there" Rukia pointed behind the trees "I feel something is in there."

"Let's go."

They walked with his sense of alert until they reached the stone structure of a Shinto shrine. On his front door it read _Tsukimine_ **(1)**. Wild grass covered most of the floor, but inside of the place it was surprisingly clean.

"Someone lives here." Renji stated. "Maybe that's what the hollows are looking for."

Renji saw movement in the shadows; something was crawling in the darkness. He shunpoed and trapped the creature who yelled and struggled to get free. He brought it into the light; it was small and looked human.

"What did you found?" Rukia approached "A wild one..." she asked watching with curiosity at the small child Renji caught. It was a wild nekobito, with grey tabby patterns on his ears and tail, and some ragged clothes covering his body.

"What do we do? All the wild ones must be delivered."

The child struggled, kicking and scratching. Rukia felt sorry for it.

"Our mission is to catch the hollow, not wild cats."

"You're right." in that moment some energy emanated from the small cat's frame. In an extraordinary fast move, the nekobito bit forcefully on Renji's right hand causing him bleed. This surprised him and he let go the child.

"Damn brat!" his hand bled deeply.

"Renji, watch out!"

The small nekobito looked at them with eyes burning of hatred. An evil aura rose from him. It was possessed. His frame changed with his arms and legs growing longer. His face changed completely to a monstrous one with huge teeth's and fangs. Then the mask appeared.

"The hollow was hiding inside of that child's body!" Rukia stated in shock. "But, why?"

"_Stupid shinigamis…."_ Hissed the hollow, "_Messing with my hunt… I almost caught it…"_

It was small, but very fast. Inside of the shrine that hid in the shadows, the hollow appeared behind Renji's back and bit his right shoulder.

"Bastard." Renji tried to grab Zabimaru, but his hand hurt like a bitch and the blood made the hilt too slippery for his hand to grasp it.

Rukia attacked it taking down one of the olds wall with them in the process.

Renji got up, but movement in the back caught his attention. He turned to see a pair of red orbs watching him. It was just a second, and when he tried to focus his attention on it, it disappeared. The rumble of the fight made him go to Rukia's side.

"Are you ok?" she asked when he came to her side.

"Yeah... I don't know why my hand bled so much."

Rukia attacked the hollow with her zanpakutou, cutting one of its arms off and causing it to scream.

"It must be the cat saliva; it works as anticoagulant in some cases, like a bat's bite."

Rukia jumped and finally cut the Hollow's head off. After that she went to Renji side and bandaged his injured hand.

"What were you thinking lowering your guard like that?"

"Hey, you didn't tell me that they could do this!"

"It's common sense! You never let your guard down, even with an innocent child."

"You're not helping at all, you now that?"

Rukia finished patching his wounds. "We need to go to the fourth squad; they'll know what to do." _And maybe, we'll find out why a hollow would appear in a deserted place like this._

****=^..^=****

"Shiroooooooo-chan!"

Momo hugged the white cat against her face.

"Let me go!" cried the white cat, struggling to get free.

"I missed you!" said Momo, ignoring his demands.

"Hey! I told you to let me go!"

Toushirou liked the girl, even though he was never going to say it. Momo was a person who acted without thinking about her actions, but was too touchy. Toushirou felt safe when Momo hugged him. It made him remember someone in his other life. Sadly, the similarities with those two people stopped there.

Momo hugged him extra tightly one last time before letting him go.

"Momo-chan, what a nice surprise." said Urahara with his usual sleepy face.

"Hi Urahara-san." She bowed "Is Ichigo here?"

"Yeah, he's inside. Today he didn't go to Abarai-san place because he wasn't feeling well."

"Is he sick?"

"Nah. He's in the dining room."

Actually, Ichigo did not go because he was missing Renji, and going there would only depress him more. After meeting the black cat at Kuchiki-san's place, he felt more of need to be with the red-head. And it was killing him.

"Come on Ichi! You act like the world is going to ended!" said Yoruichi to the weeping boy. "Momo is here and she wants to talk you."

"I'm not in the mood." said Ichigo, turning his back away from her. She kicked him.

"Momo, he said he'll see you!"

Ichigo turned to glare at the tanned woman. Momo appeared with her big smile seconds later and was followed by the silent figure of Toushirou.

"Hello Ichigo-kun. Are you feeling better?"

Ichigo sat straight and scratched a little behind his ear.

"Yeah."

"Good! Rukia sent me to tell you that Renji is back," Ichigo's eyes lit up making Yoruichi giggle and Toushirou glare. Ichigo, finding himself discovered, lowered his head and blushed "but he's at the medical division now...."

"What?!" Ichigo almost screamed "Why? What happened to him?"

"Some minor injuries that are nothing serious, but she thought it was the right thing to do…to tell you about it...." And she _was _right, Momo thought to herself.

Ichigo stood up, he _needed_ to see him!

"Thank you Momo. Urahara-san!"

"What? Don't make so much noise" said the shopkeeper.

"I need to go to the medical division."

"What? Why?"

"I... I need something!"

Urahara looked at him. The cat boy was all flushed and excited, showing an emotion more than loneliness and a chronic scowl that was always on his face. It was a nice change.

"You're cleaning the bathroom for a week."

"Thank you! Let's go, Momo!"

"Yes!"

"Wait for me!" shouted Toushirou, jumping and grabbing onto Ichigo's shoulder. The three of them soon disappeared.

"Are you letting him go so easily?"

Yoruichi sat in front of Urahara in her cat form.

"Well kids grow up."

"Even when you are dying to be the owner of his affections?"

Urahara didn't respond to this.

They reached the Medical division (Fourth squad barracks) just in time to see Renji leaving with Rukia. Ichigo stopped just a few steps in front of the redhead. Suddenly, he didn't know what to say to him. He was worried and happy to see him without any major injuries, but he couldn't say anything about this feeling because he realized that he and Renji were nothing more than a costumer and a servant. And that hurt.

"Hi Ichigo!" Said Rukia to the orange haired cat "It seems Momo delivered my message to you just in time."

Seeing that Renji wasn't going anywhere, she put her hand over his injured shoulder causing him yell out in pain.

"Abarai-san! Are you ok?" said Ichigo, finally getting closer.

"Yes, only a little of pain…"

"So he's alive. How lucky we are…" hissed Toushirou, jumping Ichigo's shoulder. Renji glared at the cat.

"Say, Momo, want to go for a drink?" asked Rukia "I need to make a report and I'd like some help. You can bring Shiro-chan."

"It's Toushirou!" yelled the white cat. The two girls ignored him.

"Excellent! But what about them?" asked Momo, faking innocence.

"Ichigo could accompany Renji to his place since Unohana-taicho gave him two days of rest." Rukia replied with the same faked innocence.

"Ok! Let's go, Shiro-chan." Said Momo, grabbing the cat.

"Hey, let me go! Who said that I'll go with you two?!"

The two girls left them, bringing the overprotective cat with.

Ichigo walked with Renji to his place and prepared some tea. Renji sat at the dining table and admired how tidy was all. It was very different place than the one he left a few days ago.

"Here you go." Ichigo served the tea.

"Thanks. Hey, this place looks great! You really did a great job."

Ichigo felt proud and a small blush crept to his cheeks.

"Thank you."

Ichigo noted that Renji had trouble holding the cup and decided to help.

"May I?"

"Yeah."

Ichigo unraveled the bandages with care until the injury was revealed. The teeth marks were visible and the wounds were not closed yet. Ichigo felt the warmth of the strong, tanned and calloused hand in his that was so used to fighting. He also noticed they were bigger than his "I thought that shinigamis healed fast."

"It was a nekobito." Hearing this Ichigo's ears rose showing that he was surprised and interested in the subject "A hollow was hiding inside of the frame of a young one…Unohana-taicho said that the saliva delays the healing. But it won't stop there; it affects all the wounds I have on my body until its effects pass. That's why a hollow bite doesn't heal either."

"There's only one antidote for this…" Ichigo blushed "If you let me…"

Renji looked in the cat's eyes and let him do. Ichigo brought the hand to his face and lick it.

"What are you doing?!" Renji pulled away. Ichigo lowered his ears feeling ashamed.

"When…when one of my kind, a nekobito, bites someone in a defensive way, his saliva has the anticoagulant effect on the wound; it's a form of defense and also a hunting and killing tool. But it also works as a healing balsam if that's the cat's desire. It can't give a counter effect to a wound made by other nekobito…"

"I see…" Renji looked at his hand where Ichigo licked it already started to heal "It's like some sort of kidou spell."

Ichigo waited for Renji's actions looking at him with anxiety. Renji watched the kid all flushed and desirable.

"I must be going crazy…" he grabbed Ichigo by the collar of his kimono and kissed him. **(2)**

Ichigo was startled at first; he never expected that from the redhead. But the caressing in his ears made him loss any objection that could be muttered. He grabbed to Renji's robes roughly. Even though he knew how to kiss, he never did it with a person he truly liked before. He was only kissed by Urahara…

That made him separate from Renji.

"What's wrong?"

Ichigo felt his body burn. He couldn't tell that memory to Renji.

"Nothing… I… I wanted to tell you something first: I like you." Ichigo tail waved from one side to the other anxiously. The innocence of the cat-boy was refreshing.

"You never did this before." Renji said. It wasn't a question, it was an observation "I've never been with one of your kind before, but I want to know something before: it's true that you only mate because you're in heat?"

"For wild ones, I think it must work that way." Seeing the questioning eyes of Renji he continued "My mother was human, so, I'm half human...I have more human 'antics' and even when one is wild I think that '_love_' is something that has to be present..."

Ichigo wasn't sure of his words, because he wasn't even sure of his feelings or how to express them. He liked Renji, a lot, and his heart beat faster when he looked at him. A warm feeling rose from his chest and something like butterflies crept in his stomach…he never felt this type of love: a love that made him desire another person.

Renji moved his hands, lowering the upper part of Ichigo's robe. The white skin was toned with a nice pink blush. The injured hand of Renji caressed Ichigo's chest from the waist to Ichigo's face. His fingers followed the young features of the kitten, stopping at his mouth. Ichigo grabbed the hand and licked the wounds again, finally closing them and leaving the skin good as new. He looked at Renji again, his eyes filled with desire. He decided to move closer to smell Renji's skin and taste the rest of his body's hot flesh against his.

Ichigo purred something that Renji found sweet. With a little shaking hand the younger one removed the upper part of Renji's robes and marveled when his eyes saw the patterns of ink on the redhead's flesh. It made him remember the tiger lines and the caressed them. Ichigo's hand met the bandage on the shoulder and removed it too. The wound was deeper and it must have hurt. Ichigo wished he had been there and dispatched the hollow himself for touching the man in front of him. He licked it clean and healed the skin. Renji felt the warm tongue on the shoulder and felt himself getting aroused from the touch. It was soft, not like one of a cat and he thought that if it wasn't like that he wouldn't find this so pleasurable. He loosened the obi and removed the lower part of Ichigo's robes leaving him completely naked. The cat-boy closed his eyes; this was so shameful, even when he desired it so much! Renji's arms lifted him up and he grabbed to him almost desperately and looked at him. The acceptance that found in those eyes, burning with desire for him, was enough to dispel his fears. Ichigo kissed Renji then. **(3)**

******=^..^=******

_**1**__-It means "moon peak". I got it from the original series of Card Captor Sakura, its where Kaho Mitsuki lived :P_

_**2**__-no, you're not. It's me, I must be going crazy…. _

_**3-**__And that's why I had to change the rating of this fic… even when I *_love*_ to read ero scenes, they are hard to do… and even when nothing its actually tell here -don't kill me, I need to finish this first!-, I think that maybe later I'll be able to write a lemon. (Persistence, i know I was mean! I´ll try to amend myself in later chapters!)_

_**4-**__I almost forgot: at my user's profile you can find a link to the art that inspired this… more pics coming!_

_**5-**__read you in the next chapter!_


	6. Chapter 6

**Gekkouha  
**_**Moonlight flower**_

_**Written by: **_**Maru de Kusanagi  
**_**Beta read by: **_**Persistence** _(sorry! I should have put this chapters ago!)_

_Started: November 2, 2009_

_Ended: ¿?_

_So nice reviews! I thank you so much to all of you! I love your support! I must confess: I was out of fanfics writing because I had some bad reviews in the past and little support to encourage me to get better. But so much nice fiction of Bleach and such nice support gave new forces! _

_**Special thanks to: **_**PERSISTENCE,**_ my dear beta reader (sorry if I'm a little hard to get along sometimes, I love your summary and I'll definetly use it!); _**WRITERX75:**_ It was nice to find someone that understands me a little, I did a lemon here! But I think it's still crappy, I still have long way to go to do something that I can feel satisfied, and I know, I'll try to avoid that all my stories only run around a lemon scene; _**BONNENUIT:**_ I almost jumped at reading your review! I love your style and knowing that you keep an eye on me it's almost an honor! **And everybody keeping an eye on this!**_

_I'm trying to finish this story before March 8. Why? Because that's my birthday!-but, I think it wont be like that, because I know myself- On this chapter: a little more of the past it's revealed!_

_**-Terminology for this story-  
**_**DEMI-HUMAN:** _a half animal person, like the nekobito.  
_**NEKO:**_ 'cat' in Japanese.  
_**NEKOBITO:**_ it means 'cat person', and I made up this one. It's the conjunction of "neko" and "hito" (_person_). The Japanese grammar makes the 'h' change to a 'b' in this._

_**Disclaimer:**__ Bleach it's not mine. I wish it was. I'm only borrowing them for a while.  
__**WARNINGS**__: Yaoi, weird pairings, weird stuff, crazy writer!, some drug abuse._

_****=^..^=****_

**CHAPTER 6:  
**Ichigo didn't want to admit that this man's touch held so much power over him. He grasped the beautiful long red hair and ran his hands through the strands. This man looked wild, like a part of him he always tried to keep at bay. The one who whispered in his ears during the night and cause nightmares that wouldn't stop until he went to Urahara's side in search of something that would make his mind go numb. The other part of him that was hiding in those memories he tried so much to erase. At the same time, he was so scared to lose it because he knew that a part of him would be gone if that happened.

"Ah!"

The hand that stroked his erection was warm and calloused just like before when he inspected it. The other was caressing his nude body, skin covered in sweat and the breath coming in labored**.** He felt Renji's breath next to his ear and the red head's teeth biting softly on the border.

Oh god, he never thought that something like this could feel so good!

"Such a pretty kitty you are... No wonder you're so expensive for a master...." Renji's said in a husky voice that was filled with desire. No. He did not want to hear about that.

"Forget that now..." it cost all his self control left in his body to say those simple words. He only wanted to know that he was there with Renji. Nothing else mattered.

Renji's hand moved from his erection and Ichigo whimpered when the warmth left him. He was a bit surprised when it moved to caress his entrance.

"Relax...." the other hand stroked his hair.

Ichigo grabbed onto Renji's shoulders, and when he felt a finger enter him he couldn't avoid biting him between the neck and the shoulder. Blood ran down from the wound and after Ichigo realized what he had done, he tried to get away

"I'm sorry...! I...I..."

Renji kept him down with one hand to avoid his escape attempts and with the other touched the bite. It was very shallow and nothing too serious. It didn't even hurt much. He would have laughed if the expression in Ichigo's eyes weren't so desperate.

"You can bite me as much as you want" he stated, getting closer to the orange haired cat "I don't break so easily... And you can take care of it later, right?"

Ichigo face illuminated. Renji wasn't mad at him! He got free and crushed his mouth to Renji's, clumsily asking with his tongue for entrance. Renji allowed him and entwined his tongue as they sat up in bed. His hands caressed the young body and searched again for the entrance and inserted a finger inside.

Ichigo moaned in his mouth, but this time he tried to relax and allowed the intrusion to go deeper. _That caress in such pace..._ He almost lost the ability to breathe when another finger followed the first, so immersed in that feeling, so sinful, and so good. He wanted to bite something; it was his primal part trying to break free. But he wasn't a wild animal, so he restrained himself. However, under those fingers actions, he couldn't avoid his hips moving to meet Renji's. It increased when the other hand caressed the base of his tail that was always a sensitive part of his body. He started to purr again and kissed the earlobe of his lover.

"Hold on to me"

Renji brought him closer so their hot chests were touching and Ichigo's hard erection pressing against the red head's stomach in a delicious friction. Renji positioned at his entrance and pressed further.

Ichigo bit Renji's shoulder this time and pulled on the long hair, digging his nails in the tattooed back. Renji waited for him to relax and get used to the intrusion. He held him still at the waist. The nekobito's body was so hot and his hard erection against his lower body was driving him crazy. His smell was something he'd never smelt before. It was something sweet with a mixture of wild grass and dirt. Like after a day of walking in the woods and coming one with nature. But Ichigo's skin did not only smell of it, there was a male scent and sex (of course).

Ichigo was something untamable and only with Renji could he let his guard down. Thinking on this, he remembered a legend about the unicorn that gave himself to the innocence of a maiden... Maybe it was similar to that? However, the feeling of his erection stretching the others tight entrance made him forget these thoughts. There were other things needed to be done now.

His hold on Ichigo got softer and the soft tail fell against Renji's crossed legs and the cat was now licking the new wound on his shoulder, purring louder. Renji started to move and even when Ichigo grabbed him, he didn't bite or dig his nails at his back. He was purring like a sweet kitten, moving his hips on desire for more.

"Renji..." whispered the cat in his ear and the red head couldn't stop then. He pushed hard inside of the young body, feeling the heat burn inside of them and the delicious wet friction of the young erection starting to drip.

The moans of both of them followed each thrust and hip movement. It did not take long for Ichigo to feel his body trembling and release, followed by warmth filling him. Then he only saw white. Nothingness.

It looked eternal, but it was only an instant followed by a pleasant darkness and his body completely emptied.

He was thankful for Renji's fast reflexes that he didn't fall off the bed or hit his head against the board of it.

''Ichigo" Renji brought the motionless body closer.

The cat was sleep!

So, it was too much for him. He put Ichigo on the bed and admired him. He looked calm, tired, and completely pleased. The tail, which usually moved according to its master's emotional state, was limp at his side. His breathing was soft now and the sweat dripped off the hair. There was proof of his release sprawled on both of their stomachs. His lips were parted and the tip of his canine teeth could be seen. The body was long, not in a muscular way, but not too skinny. There were a few marks on one of his arms and Renji looked at it with interest: round white scars, like gunshot marks. On the inside part of the arm, a mark was present. When he leaned closer to get a better look, he found there were numbers etched into his skin. It was like an identification code and Renji found it disgusting. Even though Ichigo wasn't human, nobody had the right to mark another creature like a common pet! He was going to do something about it, surely this had to be the work of that crazy hat and clog man.

Ichigo whispered something and his breath got uneasy. In his dream, he was looking for Renji.

_Not tonight. _

He laid next to the orange cat and the sleeping boy got closer to him, searching for warmth. Renji kissed the crook of his head and went to sleep. **(1)**

Outside, the afternoon sun was still up.

****=^..^=****

While Renji and Ichigo shared some intimate moments, Rukia, Momo and Toushirou were at a tea house writing the report about the strange Hollow that appeared in a deserted place.

"So, the Hollow was hiding in the body of a nekobito?"

Momo caressed the back of Toushiro's ears, who was acting very grumpy in her lap.

"Yes. And it said something weird: _'you're messing with my hunt_'. What could it be hunting there? Maybe he had some fetish with cat boys?"

"You're stupid." said Toushirou, jumping over the table. He looked at the photos of the place and sniffed them. "That thing, the Hollow, wasn't after a nekobito. From what I've heard, those things look for souls with enormous spiritual energy or what you call 'reiatsu'. A wild nekobito lacks that because he doesn't need it to survive in the wild. The ones like me and Ichigo are different: we are half humans and that triggers something that makes us stronger."

"So, you say that it was looking for one like you?" Rukia asked.

"Not quite." Toushirou put one of his white paws over the photo of the shrine entrance "Places like this are visited frequently by a very special type of demi-human: an almost extinct one."

The girl stared at the photo and then to the cat, who had a look of 'this is so simple and yet you can't find it out'.

"Come on, Shirou-chan, tell us!" begged Momo while hugging him. Toushirou, exasperated, got free from her arms and walked away from her.

"That's your job to find it out. One last hint: this wasn't the first time."

And then he walked out of the place.

"He was very talkative today." observed Rukia.

"Yeah, but I wished he was more clear" lamented Momo.

"It wasn't the first time? Of course! In this place there were reports of strange apparitions and some odd energy, not from a hollow or shinigami. It was a rumor..." Rukia searched through the papers she had in front of her "Here, read this."

"A local said that some nights, when the moon is full and the sky is clear, a beautiful form of a silver fox can be seen in the nearby shrine. It is also known that this creature steals food and sometimes sake from the houses, but while nobody follows it or tries to hurt it, no damage is done to humans who've witness it. But when locals tried to hunt the fox, it was found dead two days later."

"A kitsune? That's what the Hollow was looking for."

"Well, case solved. But we don't look after those, and it looks like he can take care of himself."

"Until something bigger appears."

****=^..^=****

Toushirou walked through the alleys trying to avoid being seen by people. He would go home later, but right now he wanted some time alone.

He climbed up a sakura tree and rested there. It was spring already and the blossoms started to fall. Besides Ichi, only this puts his mind at ease.

_"Shirou-chan, come down!"  
__"Don't call me that!"  
__The fox girl helped him down.  
__"The master wants to see you. It looks like you're getting a home!"  
__They walked hand in hand, under the rain of blossoms.  
__"Are you going with me?"  
__The fox girl smiled sadly.  
__"I can't, Toushirou. My place is here. But you have a chance."  
__"No!" the cat-boy wrapped his arms around her waist with her massive chest just over his head "I not going to leave you behind!"  
__"Toushirou..."_

"Rangiku…" **(2)** One bird landed next to him, and looked at him with strange eyes. Toushirou moved his tail and it flew away.

"I wanted to forget how to be human and have a conscience. Why didn't you let me become a wild cat? Why did you want me to remember everything?"

The white cat closed his eyes and went to sleep.

"_So, this is it."  
__Their master pushed Toushirou in front of the costumers. Toushirou was nervous having never liked to be next to the master. He always had an odd aura… something that his instincts told him to run away.  
_"_A fine creature indeed. Come closer." called the costumer. It was a middle aged man, handsome, with some playful smirk in his face; he looked rich and smelled of very expensive cologne. He also wore nice clothes.  
_"_Go on."  
__Toushirou got closer to the man and he thought that he looked decent, in comparison to the master. Inside of the room the AC was on a very low temperature setting and the young cat boy's body trembled; Rangiku made him take a bath and change before the meeting. The costumer was sitting on a sofa and looked with analyzing eyes at the boy.  
_"_Wow… it's just… perfect. Just like him, only the color of the eyes is different and of course it's of different species, but it's perfect." The man had brown hair slid to the back and a lock that fell over his temple. "I'm very satisfied, Grand Fisher, two perfect creatures."  
_"_Aizen-sama, it's always an honor to hear your praises." replied Grand Fisher, the owner of the school for demi-humans. "I'm sad to say that this maybe the last of the kitsune created by Rangiku, but the silver one is still out there."  
__Aizen smiled caressing the face of Toushirou, who felt some sort of chill run down his back.  
_"_He was always good at disappearing. But I'll find him, sooner or later." said Aizen and then looked at Toushirou again "What is your name?"  
_"_Yes?" Toushirou asked, he had not been paying attention to what the man had to say.  
_"_Always said _«_yes, sir_»_" reprimanded Grand Fisher.  
_"Yes sir_" almost grunted Toushirou "It's Toushirou."  
_"_Toushirou…" something shined inside of the eyes of the man, and then the white cat felt danger near. He wanted to run, but suddenly, Aizen's hand grabbed him._

The sudden noise of branches breaking and the birds flying brought him back to the present. He saw sakura petals and feathers everywhere. The heavy weight of a big blue cat made the branch where Toushirou rested on tremble and he needed to get up to avoid it breaking. He hissed and the blue cat looked at him. It was a strange cat with some odd white patterns on its legs and long fur on the head like a lion's mane, but shorter. Also its tail was white with black lines. It was chewing a dove and after looking at Toushirou swallowed it fast.

"Long time, Shirou." said the cat with a hard glare.

The white cat blinked.

"Grimmjow! You're alive!" **(3)**

"No thanks to the both of you." said the blue cat, licking the remains of blood off his paws.

"We saw you fall with Ulquiorra. I was shot and passed out, but Ichigo protected me and we were rescued by a strange guy."

"And you never thought of going after us?" roared Grimmjow "But you must be happy, you have a master now that even put a collar on you!"

Toushirou eyes looked down at the collar. It was necessary to hide his identity, but this time it felt so heavy.

Grimmjow jumped towards him and Toushirou avoided him just in time. The blue cat had a right to be angry at them, but nothing could be done to change the past.

"Grimmjow, we were hurt and it took too much time to recuperate. Our... caretaker searched the place and he only found that the other two were captured and taken away. We couldn't do anything."

A strange aura emanated from the blue cat's body and Toushirou knew he needed to do something and then invoked his own power. When Grimmjow attacked, Toushirou yelled and white ice crystals surrounded him and the other cat, imprisoning him to the tree branch.

"Coward! Fight me!" yelled the blue cat, trying to get free. Toushirou said nothing and escaped from the place.

Grimmjow recovered his human form and got free of the ice prison. So he finally found them and he was sure that the white cat and orange one were together. He picked up his essence. It didn't matter where they ran now; he was going to find them and get his revenge. Everything happened because of those two…

"T'cht..."

He climbed to the upper part of the tree and between the branches he found his clothes. He didn't bother to put them on, he only searched through them and took out a small metal pipe and lighter. He sat in a branch and lighted the pipe bringing it to his mouth. He inhaled and exhaled the toxic and let his mind be taken by the drug. He needed it so much now.

"Bastards"

****=**^..^**=****

_**1-**__I wasn't going to do this scene. Actually, the chapter was going to directly start from the scene of Rukia, Momo and 'Shirou in the tea house, but you deserved it, my dear beta reader. And I know it sucks, I'm no good at lemons, and this must be the third time I ever do one. I must be thankful to the fic, "Sasuke, my pet" (spanish translation), a very hot NaruSasu fic (I'm not into Naruto, but I like the couple Sasuke/Naruto, and I have a friend that loves them), that fic had a lot of BDSM things, which I'll never be able to do._

_**2-**__It was going to be and original chara for this story, but I decided to put her here._

_**3-**__I love Grimmjow, but I'm not very used to his character, so in this fic it will be a stray cat (and very OCC, but I already say that when I started this story). And Ulquiorra? Later you will know…-the thing is, I'm not sure yet!-_

_**4-**__See you on the next one! I wanted to do something for Valentine's, but I did not have the time, so, consider this like a present. I promise the next one will be longer!_


	7. INTERMEZZO

**Gekkouha  
**_**Moonlight flower**_

_**Written by: **_**Maru de Kusanagi  
**_**Beta read by: **_**Persistence**

_**-Terminology for this story-  
**_**DEMI-HUMAN:** _a half animal person, like the nekobito.  
_**NEKO:**_ 'cat' in Japanese.  
_**NEKOBITO:**_ it means 'cat person', and I made up this one. It's the conjunction of "neko" and "hito" (_person_). The Japanese grammar makes the 'h' change to a 'b' in this.  
_**(new) INUBITO:**_ Dog + person… I don't like how it sounds, so, I don't think I'll be using it too much._

_OK, meanwhile I fight with chapter 7, I give you the story of the pretty black nekobito!_

****=^..^=****

**INTERMEZZZO: **_**THE BLACK CAT STORY**_** (1)  
**

_"A connection like this is never lost" _

Why did the words of the young orange haired cat replay in his mind so many times? He was a man who kept things to himself and usually found a way to deal with his troubles, but what always happened with a particular matter, he never got a definitive answer.

That day it rained and the smell of the earth filled his senses. He went to the captains meeting with Yamamoto sou-taichou leading it like always. If he was a little out of it, it did not matter and after work he went home. He requested for a bath to be drawn and rested for a while in the great pool. He liked the feel of the warm water around his naked body; it was so relaxing that he closed his eyes.

He remembered Hisana with her sweet smile and absolute love for him. Her fragile health, which took her away from his side so early, was also the thing that made it impossible for them to have children. That was why the black cat came to his life.

***

They just discovered the cold hard truth and the news crushed their dreams. Unohana was conclusive: there was no hope for a baby. Even if she got pregnant, there was a small chance for it to reach the term or even the mother surviving the first month. Her body, after such a hard life in Rukongai, couldn't afford it.

A few days later, he decided to take her out to Karakura for a distraction. He wanted to let others know that even though she couldn't bear children, he loved her unconditionally and did not care what others thought.

Karakura was usual a lively place full of people coming and going. The people who recognized him bowed with respect. Other people looked at them with hatred and envy, but that was usual. They stopped in the park where something was being displayed.

"Can we go to see?"

"Of course"

They approached to see a man on a stage, talking to different people, men and women. On the stage behind him, various demi-humans were on display. They aged from around fifteen to mid twenties, both genders with different body sizes. Most of them were nekobitos, but there was also some inubito.

It was a demi-human auction, something so low that even Byakuya felt his anger rise. That was what the breeders usually did with his "merchandise".

"Come see one of the finest selections in years! Males and females! Pure breeds!" called the seller and with his arms he signaled the long legs of a female nekobito that was barely covered. "They are already fixed, so you don't have to deal with any unwanted offspring or the aging process! They are going to be like this for the rest of their lives! You will not find a better price for such quality!"

At that time, Byakuya didn't know how they "prepared" the nekobitos or cared to know about it. He felt disgusted and wanted to get Hisana out of such dirty place, but when he was about to touch her, her scream stopped him.

"Oh god!"

Hisana covered her mouth in horror. He followed her eyes and saw a small child that was put up for sale. It was no older than five with white skin and black hair. It wore a white piece of clothing with a hood that covered his head. Behind the hood, black hairs bloomed and sweet eyes shined under square glasses with innocence. The black pointy ears were up under the material and the tail waved from one side to the other.

"This is a special offer!" The seller announced, indicating the child "Since he's not a pure breed, I'll give him away at half price! He can talk and learn, although it is something that most people would find useless on a pet."

Some people looked interested and asked some questions to the seller. Meanwhile, Hisana approached and looked at the child. In his eyes one could see the fear and the traces of dry tears.

"Hello there" she said, smiling sweetly to him "What's your name?"

The boy sniffled and looked at his seller with fear, squeezing his hands nervously.

"Don't worry" she said, taking one of his small hands in hers "I'm Hisana and that's Byakuya-sama. And you?"

"Uryu...." whispered the nekobito.

"Uryu." she smiled again.

"Honorable lady" said the seller; getting her attention "I wouldn't recommend for someone like you this mutt thing... I have better specimens..."

"How can you say that?!" yelled Hisana "This is not a thing! It's a living creature, a child! How can you be so cruel...?" she started to cough and Byakuya held her. He looked coldly at the man, who gave two steps back. He knew that getting this man angry wasn't a good idea.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you..." he started to say.

"Here" Byakuya threw enough money to pay all the demi-humans on sale at the seller. The man was speechless "You, come with us. The rest of you are free to go anywhere you want."

All the people around looked at them like they had a second head. The demi-humans looked at each other for a moment. Freedom? Something that they only remembered in dreams, was it finally theirs? One after the other, they ran in different directions and the seller didn't know what to do. Uryu stayed there, looking at the couple that just bought him.

"Are you better?"

"Yes, thank you, Byakuya-sama" Hisana turned to Uryu and placed her hand to him "Let's go home, Uryu-chan."

A little hesitant, Uryu took it.

The short time that Hisana had left, (Byakuya never had another way to put it) was filled with her smile and the young Uryu together. He also liked the black cat; it was such a sweet thing.

And that kid _loved_ to talk.

"My grandpa was called _Itchida_.... No, I-shi-da! Yep, that was it! He said I was Uryu Ishida! But after he died, the seller said that because I was a cat, I didn't need a last name... And that was why I couldn't stay at my house anymore"

Uryu bit into a pear unceremoniously and got his face all dirty. Hisana smiled and cleaned him with a handkerchief.

"There. And your mom? Or dad?"

"My grandpa told me that my mom died when I was born. As for my dad…he went to work... so it was only grandpa and me" It was an easy way to tell a small child that his father left him.

"Can I have another? The seller never gave me something this good!"

"Yes, go ahead" said Hisana and looked at him while he ate with eyes full of love. Even if this wasn't actual their child, Uryu was now with them.

"Yummy!" Uryu lifted his head and the hood fell from his head, revealing his soft black hair in all his glory. It smelled with pure and innocent love to his new "parents".

Hisana hugged the small child to her chest and kissed his head. "This is your home now."

"Really?" the voice of the nekobito was full of illusions and fear. He looked at Hisana and then to Byakuya, who bowed his head.

"Yes." he caressed the child face.

It didn't matter if this child wasn't human. It made Hisana happy and that was the only thing that mattered.

Hisana taught Uryu how to read, count, and sing some child songs. She also taught him how to sew (And that kid had a very good hand for that). Uryu grew up before they knew it (was it a year? Two? The time looked so vague when he tried to focus on it), maybe because he was a nekobito his body grew faster than a human child's. Never in the Soul Society's history was a nekobito raised so nobody knew how to help. Byakuya would never go to the seller to ask about it. Maybe Mayuri could give him some information, but surely he would try to dissect Uryu first. He knew what most did such as soon as the boy reached maturity he would stop growing. There were also some rumors about the sex, but he couldn't remember what they were.

Uryu was more attached to Hisana, and that was obvious. Even though Byakuya liked the child, he actually never let him to get too close because of his pride as a noble. It was still a heavy burden for him to hear the soft whispers about them being people of such status taking in a strange creature as their own. When he realized this, he tried to amend himself, but it was too late. Hisana died and he was too hurt to share the pain or comfort Uryu.

He still remembered the broken sobs of the kitten when they attended the funeral ceremony. He was hidden behind furniture because he didn't want to be seen (and he was glad because he did not need the accusing eyes of his family on him or on the cat's). Uryu started to become a very reserved kid, almost like himself. It was during this time that he lost the way to connect to Uryu, even though Uryu never stopped being at his side. But what hurt him more was the love the young cat still had for him in his eyes.

***

Byakuya got out of the pool and let the water drip off his body before and taking a towel to dry himself off**.** He put on a bath robe and walked to his room. He lingered in the doorway. The silence was complete.

"Uryu?"

Like usual, the cat was his shadow.

"Yes, Byakuya-sama?"

"Prepare some tea and bring it to my room."

Byakuya walked to his room and sat on the bed. That was their key words since that day.

***=^..^=***

Uryu didn't know how or when exactly he fell in love with his master. After Hisana-sama died, he felt so lonely, not even when his grandfather died did he feel this way. Back then, he was around the age of nine and hid behind a table to see how the ceremony was done. The priest made his prayers and they burned a scent into the air that smelled weird. He saw Byakuya stop in front of Hisana's portrait and pay his respects. After many hours, the visitors left and only then did he get his refuge. He approached the picture and closed his eyes. He put his hands together, just as he saw the others did and then he remembered he didn't know any prayers, so he didn't know what to say. Then, he decided to speak his heart.

"Hisana-sama, I promise you this: I'll never leave Byakuya-sama side."

And he never did, he learned how to prepare his master's favorite tea, assist him with getting dressed, and how to fix his hair. He even learned how to sew his kimonos and repair broken parts after he returned from some mission.

When he turned fifteen (but his body was like a boy around seventeen), one of the maids did a commentary about the "lovely way he attended Kuchiki-sama". That put a lot of things into his head to think about. For some time, he had this odd sensation in his stomach when he was near his master and his cheeks burned when Byakuya touched his hair. That year was hell, adding to the strange hardness in his underpants.

When the strange feelings started to get worse, he told this to Byakuya that he felt strange and his master took him to the Fourth Squad. After a regular check up, Unohana asked Byakuya if she could speak with the nekobito in private.

"So, Uryu, do you have anything you wanted to share?" the gentle eyes of Retsu Unohana looked at him with sympathy. "Don't worry, this is a patient-doctor talk so anything you say, I will keep it private."

Uryu arranged his glasses on his nose and looked at her.

"I... don't know... Lately, I have these weird feelings...."

"Like what?"

"Like... like anxiety.... heat on my face and a strange tickling in my stomach. In my... private part.... odds reactions..." Uryu felt the burn on his face even though this was a doctor, talking about this was very uncomfortable.

"Tell me Uryu, is this something that happens all the time or a specific moment like when you are next to certain person?"

"Well...sometimes my under part reacts alone, usually when I wake up. The other time..."

"When you're next to a special person?"

Uryu bowed with his head, feeling his cheeks burn harder.

"Well, I think the thing is clear. You're in puberty, when everyone's body makes a transition to adult and that's why your body reacts like this" stated Retsu, putting a hand on his shoulder before walking towards the door "and the other is simple: you're in love."

She opened the door and called for Byakuya to bring nekobito home. She told him that what happened to him was a normal aging process, so it was nothing to be afraid of.

The simplicity of the fact that Unohana revealed left Uryu silent until they reached home. In love...with Byakuya-sama? How did that happened?

Only when his master touched his shoulder did he shake out of his thoughts.

"I asked you what you talked with Unohana-taichou, if it's not something personal".

He knew it, why was asking him about it. But he wanted to talk to Byakuya's; usually when they were together there was a heavy silence.

"I... She explained to me what I feel is something normal, that I'm reaching the adult age."

"So, there is nothing to be afraid of" stated Byakuya, repeating the same words Unohana used. With nothing else to say, Byakuya excused himself and left him alone. Even with such a cold attitude, he loved him.

Thinking of this made him feel that odd sensation in his groin again. Damn. He went to his room and started to touch himself. He found himself doing this often to release his needs and give him his release since he was being denied what his soul screamed for. Uryu understood then that if he had such a need, maybe his master's was worst (well, his young mind was horny!). So, now he had to think of how to deal with his new goal of taking care of his master.

***

Byakuya wasn't oblivious to the young black cat's troubles. He did know that Uryu was dealing with puberty, but never expected that he was also dealing with a crush. Not until Retsu met with him to talk.

"Being such a fine captain and you don't seem to know what is happening under your roof. Maybe you aren't even seeing what happens inside yourself."

Byakuya never expected a lecture, but when he was about to open his mouth, Retsu put one hand up.

"Don't get me wrong." she said "Your little neko is all grown now and it's extremely attractive with the same needs like everybody else. He loves you and I know that you must feel something towards him because you wouldn't have kept him so close if you didn't feel the same way. Even if it was a promise you made to your late wife."

Retsu smiled at the soft blush that crept across Byakuya's cheeks. It was funny to see the usual cool attitude of the captain being changed so drastically.

"You have needs too, but for how long will you try to deny yourself liberation? How long have you been mourning Hisana?"

"It's not as simple as going and taking him to bed...."

"Dear, life is as hard as you want it to be."**(2)**

So everything started one night with a cup of tea.

Uryu was so serviceable as always and helped him to get undress. Byakuya took his usual bath and asked for tea.

In the dim light of the room, with just the two of them, everything looked so simple. With a simple kiss their night meetings started. **(3)**

***

After the first night, Byakuya couldn't help, but feel guilty. The cat's body stopped growing and that was when he found out how the breeders prepared the nekobitos. He avoided meeting Uryu for a while and then Rukia came into their lives. The young girl was just like her sister and Byakuya adopted her as his own. She came to live with them and got along with Uryu easily because she had the same kindness radiating off her as Hisana had. But she wasn't her and Byakuya found the one he desired in his house was the one with the pointy ears.

One night, while lying in the bed and trying to relax after the night's meeting, Byakuya felt the blue eyes of the black cat on him. He opened his eyes and saw the soul of the cat in those. Uryu never questioned him, but, after a few moments, he said:

"Did I do something wrong?"

It was a question filled with terror. Byakuya couldn't answer him and Uryu didn't repeat the question.

He tried to break his relationship with the cat and keep a distance between them.

Then, Rukia told him that she also met a nekobito in Karakura, an orange haired one. Byakuya went to where she said and found Urahara's place. It was a little unnerving to him at first to speak with the expelled shinigami, but he found that Urahara was a very intelligent man that hid it under a façade.

He discovered something about himself the day: he had a thing for cats.

Ichigo was so different from Uryu, straight forward and less hesitant. He had a nice body which didn't escape to Byakuya's evaluation. As he started to think about it, if he took Ichigo for himself it would stop placing Uryu in such awkward situation. Yeah, he was selfish thinking about getting a new one only to stop sleeping with the other. But destiny took the orange cat away from his grasps.

****^..^****

Uryu did not say anything while he drank the tea. He looked at him in silence, resigned to what he had. Byakuya put the cup down.

"Uryu" he said suddenly.

"Yes, Byakuya-sama?" said Uryu, raising his ears.

"No, you didn't do anything wrong." He answered, caressing his face. Uryu took the hand in his and kissed it. Even though his relationship wasn't clear, he was happy to know that his master didn't want to leave him behind. With a look on the image in front of him now, with the clean loose hair and the robe that hid his gorgeous naked body, he felt in paradise.

****=^..^=****

_**1-**__I don't know if there'll be any other of this episodes. I wanted to get clear this couple first before going on in the main story. Also, I think I'll need to check some stuff in earlier chapters.  
__**2-**so my mom said. She must know, she raised five kids!  
__**3-**__Also, I didn't wanted or try it to do a lemon scene here. I thought it will not be something in harmony with the tone of this chapter.  
__**4-**__see yah in the next one!_


	8. Chapter 7

**Gekkouha  
**_**Moonlight flower**_

_**Written by: **_**Maru de Kusanagi**

_**Beta read by: **_**Persistence**

_Started: November 2, 2009  
__Ended: ¿?_

_**Disclaimer:**__ Bleach it's not mine. I wish it was. _

_**WARNINGS**__: yaoi, weird pairings, crazy writer._

_**-Terminology for this story-  
**_**DEMI-HUMAN:** _a half animal person, like the nekobito.  
_**NEKO:**_ 'cat' in Japanese.  
_**NEKOBITO:**_ it means 'cat person', and I made up this one. It's the conjunction of "neko" and "hito" (_person_). The Japanese grammar makes the 'h' change to a 'b' in this.  
_**INUBITO:**_ Dog + person… I don't like how it sounds, so, I don't think I'll be using it too much._

****=^..^=****

**CHAPTER 7:  
**Like every night, before going to bed, Ichigo fought with Grimmjow, arguing because he still waited for his mother to come back for him. He was sent to _Gekkouha_ after Grand Fisher met his mother. Back then, Masaki looked for a place where she could leave him while she went to work. He offered her offered a very low price where the young nekobito would have good instruction and other kids to play she was a single mom of an unusual kid, she couldn't go to ask someone for help so when she heard about this proposal, she accepted it. **She swore to her son that she would see him every day, but after a few months, her visits stopped**.

"Cut it out!" said Toushirou, separating the kids. During that time, Ichigo was six and Toushirou twelve, but his body was around thirteen to fourteen. Grimmjow was eight and Ulquiorra, a stoic _inubito_ (_I know he's another thing_), the same age. Without Rangiku, the big breasted red fox girl, they were the only ones now in that place.

It was supposed to be a school where abandoned demi-humans were educated and relocated to new homes. However they soon found that the money that filled Grand Fisher pockets came from other sources.

"He's always picking on me!" yelled Ichigo.

"Yeah, because he's stupid!"

A slash of yellow shinedin Ichigo's usually brown eyes. He was young and still not very used to controlling his temper.

Ulquiorra would always watch the fights with the same stoic expression of always. Toushirou desired to get a little of help from him sometimes, but that was too much to ask.

"Lower your voices or the master will punish us!"

"I'm not afraid of him!" yelled Grimmjow, releasing his hand from the small demi-human. "Hey!" and he ran down a hall, yelling and making noise. He was always like that. Sometimes he tried to fight with Ulquiorra, who just ignored him or knocked him out with a sharp hit if he got too dense. After recovering, Grimmjow would always look for another way to fight with him again, or look for Ichigo. The end result would end with both in ragged clothes, bruises, and bite marks all over. Sometimes he even fought with Toushiro....

A soft touch to his nose made Ichigo return to the reality. The sudden bright light blinded him for a second and he blocked it with his arm. Those memories... It was a while since he thought about that time. What happened to those two when they were hunted down? After taking separate ways, Toushirou and him never saw or heard anything of them.

He felt the soft touch over his naked skin again and he lowered the arm from his eyes and checked it. A black butterfly with red marks had landed on his arm and moved, like asking for his attention. Ichigo sat and tried to cross his legs, but the pain stopped him. The butterfly fluttered around him, waiting for him to get ready and then again landed, this time on the back side of his hand. Weird. Since when did butterflies act like that?

"Oh, you're up."

Ichigo raised his eyes from the black bug to look at Renji. He had just showered and wore a white kimono with some flower patterns. His red hair was loose and he was drying it with a towel. When Ichigo remembered he was still naked, grabbed a sheet and covered himself, feeling his face red. This time the butterfly flew to Renji who extended his hand and received it.

"Shuuhei..." he looked at Ichigo, who suddenly forgot about his shame to look at what he was doing. Renji went to his side and showed him the black bug "This is a hell butterfly, and it's used mostly to send messages between shinigamis. It was looking for me. Maybe because it felt my energy around you it tried to get your attention."

Ichigo looked at the black bug with renewed interest "It is a message from my friend, Shuuhei, he's inviting me out for a drink. Are you feeling in the mood?"

"What? You... Are letting me to choose what to do?"

"Well, if you don't want to I can tell him save it for another time and we can get something to eat here. Don't worry, I've already called your boss and he said it was okay if you to stay the night."

But he also said that Ichigo must be back first time in the morning and that they needed to have a very serious talk about their contract, especially about its limits and attributions. Renji was expecting something like that. He also needed to do some talking to with that man.

"I don't know.... I never went to a bar to drink...."

"Well...."

Ichigo saw the disappointment in Renji's eyes and then spoke.

"But, I'd really like to know what is like..."

Renji smiled and ruffled his hairs.

"Perfect then."

The black butterfly flew away with the message. Ichigo watched it disappear and turned back to Renji. He was caressing his ears. He closed his eyes and leaned into the touch.

"Well then," he suddenly said, getting up with Ichigo on his arms. The strong protection of those arms was now something very familiar to Ichigo "you need to take a bath because as much as I love to see your naked body, that won't be very convenient."

Ichigo frowned. Renji led him to the bathroom to get cleaned up. He almost wished he had woken up earlier so he could spend more time with Renji. Oh well, he only wished to have the opportunity in the future.

While he cleaned his body; he saw the numbers on his arm.

"_You think… she really forgot me?"  
__Toushirou looked at him with eyes full of sympathy.  
_"_No. Maybe something happened and she couldn't come yet." Said the white cat, trying to keep hope in the younger. This relaxed him a little.  
_"_Toushirou?"  
_"_Yeah?"  
_"_What happened today in the master's office?"  
_"_Nothing… why do you ask?"  
_"_Something bothers you."  
__The white cat was silent for a while.  
_"_Nah, don't worry." He saw Ichigo scratching the inner part of his left arm and decided to take a look.  
_"_What's this?" some numbers were carved in the soft skin, still red.  
_"_Master sent somebody to do it while you were at his office. He said it was necessary."  
__Toushirou swallowed, like trying to get something down of his throat. His eyes showed inner trouble.  
_"_Toushirou?"  
_"_It's late, let's go to sleep."_

Ichigo touched the marks. It wasn't like the ones in Renji skin, which were there by choice e. This one was an intrusion on his body, and the skin reacted leaving a scar that stood. He could feel the irregularity in the skin under his fingers. How he wished to get that mark off his body, and leave the ones made by the people he loved.

Damn, he didn't need this now. He was going out with Renji and nothing should ruin it, not even the ghosts of his past.

"You're done?"

Ichigo almost jumped out of the pool. When Renji entered?!

"Yeah..."

"I'll help you to get ready; Shuuhei said that he's already at the bar."

Renji was already changed on his usual black uniform, hiding most of his skin. A white bandana was knotted on his forehead and the red hair was in its usual arrangement of a disordered ponytail. Ichigo didn't know what he liked more: this "professional look" or the naked body against his skin.

Ichigo got out of the pool and took one of the towels Renji brought and dried his face. Renji used the other for his hair and later for his back. Ichigo let a sigh escape from his mouth.

"Ichi..." whispered Renji at his ear "not now."

The hands of the redhead moved around his body leaving hot traces. Ichigo couldn't avoid giving into the touch; the feeling of Renji kissing his neck clouded his mind.

"Renji.... I..."

"Kitty, you are... so hot..." Renji's voice was husky with desire. One hand caressed one pink nipple and the other went down to the orange cat's erection. Ichigo covered his mouth with his hand and bit it until it bled when his orgasm ran through his body. At least he didn't pass out this time.

"Ichigo! Let me see." Renji washed the wound "You really need to stop biting when you get to this point."

"Sorry…" apologized Ichigo, still a little fuzzy "I can't control it yet.... This is the first time I've been like this..."

Renji noted that the wound didn't heal. He asked about it and Ichigo explained that the saliva only worked on wounds made by another of his kind, and not in those made with weapons or oneself.

"And the other thing is I can't heal wounds on my body. Only on others."

Renji bandaged it and helped Ichigo to get dressed. Renji lent him an old black uniform like his, which matched perfectly with his skin. He only needed to add a hole for his tail in the pants, and he was a neko-shinigami.

****=^..^=****

In the bar, Ichigo met Renji's friends who were shinigamis like himself. There was a young blond man with a fragile appearance named Kira, a man with a hat and a pink kimono over his uniform that turned out to be a captain named Shunsui Kouryaku (and with an attitude completely different than the one Byakuya had towards life), and of course, Shuuhei. Ichigo didn't like him from the start. It was a young shinigami with short black hair, slender figure and had some scars in the right side of his face that instead of making his face ugly only enhanced his handsome features. He also had a tattoo of the number "69" on the left side of his face, something that unnerved Ichigo more.

The waitress gave them an order of sushi and sake before the chatting began.

"So, you're Ichigo. We've heard a lot about you and were expectanting what looked like" said Shuuhei with some sort of evil glint on his eyes. "Well, I can't say you aren't hot."

Ichigo looked at him with a glare. He was sitting in the right side of Renji and at his left was Kira. To Renji's left side it was Shuuhei, and Kyouraku. Shuuhei was unnecessarily close to Renji and the cat's tail waved in exasperation. A hand over his empty glass made him look back at Kira.

"Ichigo, don't let him get to you" whispered Kira to him. "Shuuhei has been after Renji for years. They were together for a while in the past, but it didn't work." Kira filled Ichigo's glass again "And Renji never looked so happy like he does right now, and I've known him since the first day at the academy."

Kira smiled at him and Ichigo looked at his glass. Even hearing that, he still didn't like to see Shuuhei so close to Renji.

Shuuhei hand was _unnecessarily_ close to Renji's shoulder.

He drank the glass of sake in less than a second and asked for another.

"That the spirit, kid!" celebrated Kyouraku "Drink and enjoy! Kanpai!"

"Kanpai!" all said and drank their from glasses.

"Kitty!!!!!!!!!!"

A _child's_ voice?

Ichigo saw a pink pass over his eyes and something grabbing at his neck. He almost fell back in his chair because of the sudden surprise.

"Captain Zaraki, Lieutenant Fujitsuku, welcome!" said the other captain. Ichigo turned and saw the GIANT frame of Kenpachi Zaraki looking at him with an evil grin. Hanging on his shoulder was a girl with pink hair and pink cheeks. She wore the same uniform as Renji and the big man has a ragged captain haori. Ichigo straightened up and the girl sat on his shoulders.

"Are you paying, then?" said Kenpachi and sat next to Kyouraku.

"Kitty!" yelled Yachiru, pulling on Ichigo's ears "I never seen you before, are you a shinigami too?"

"No, he's with the Lieutenant Abarai. He is a friend of his." replied Kira to the energetic girl because Ichigo had her hands in the mouth and couldn't make out proper words.

"Ah. I'm Yachiru! And you?"

Ichigo could finally speak.

"Ichigo...."

"Yay! Even your name is pretty, kitty!" Said the girl jumping to his lap and hugging him "Ken-chan! I want a kitty like him!"

"You don't need it. And he must be a extra expensive bitch."Kenpachi drank his sake "I'd like to know how a Lieutenant could afford him."

"He's a cat, not a bitch, Ken-chan!" yelled Yachiru at him.

Suddenly, Ichigo felt out of place. It was his work, in some sense, to sell his company, but being pointed out like that hurt. When he looked at Shuuhei, he saw the young man had glee in his eyes obviously enjoying Ichigo's embaressment from Kenpachi's words. .

"I have my methods, captain" said Renji, grabbing Ichigo by the waist with his right arm and bring him close.

Kenpachi drank more of his sake and said "Bah! Who cares? Like I give a shit to what you like, red. It's your deal."

Ichigo felt Renji's hand on his waist and knew that redhead was with him, and didn't give a damn what the others thought of them.

"Yay! The kitty is Renji's boyfriend!" Yachiru sat on Ichigo's lap again and grabbed some sushi. "Here Ichi!"

The girl gave him a roll and almost squeezed it against his mouth.

"Drink!" Yachiru took the glass Kira served Ichigo and almost made him choke. The girl laughed at his reaction and kept with that for a while.

"Love hurts." said Kira to him apologetically.

****=^..^=****

The reunion ended without any incidents. Zaraki left when Yachiru fell asleep in his arms (Ichigo thought that that child had infinite resources of energy, so, when she passed out, he almost believed that she was dead _-again-_). Kyouraku fell asleep over the table and a girl with glasses, named Nanao that had the air of a perfect bookworm, came for him. Later Ichigo found out that it was his second seat and the scene was a very common view in the Soul Society.

Shuuhei was taken home by Kira. The blond had a resigned expression when he said goodnight to Ichigo and Renji, showing no trouble when changing the weight of his friend over his shoulder, even when his body looked so thin.

"That guy loves him." said Ichigo when they were reaching Renji's place.

"Who?"

"Kira. He's in love of Shuuhei."

"How can you tell?"

"Six sense... Nah, humans also has pheromones, but not as strong as the ones of my kind. Whenever he looks at Shuuhei, he was distilling them like pollen at the wind. And Shuuhei was like that for you."

Renji was silent for a moment, he never realized that. He knew that Shuuhei still was after him and never thought that he could guide him to Kira's arms. But he would try.

"Were you jealous?"

"No." said Ichigo, stubborn.

They went to the dorm and Ichigo let his head lay over Renji's shoulder. He was tired, but content with being accepted by him and even reassured in front of the other shinigamis. Also the alcohol had given him a nice feeling over his entire body, a tremble calling for sleep.

Renji grabbed him by the waist and made him lay on the bed; Ichigo looked at him with flushed cheeks and half open eyes. He was tired, but if Renji wanted, he wouldn't say no. Ichigo lifted his arms and let Renji hair free, disentangling it with his fingers. Renji got closer and kissed him.

"Are we….?"

Renji looked at him.

"You're tired and I think we both need to rest tonight. Tomorrow Urahara wants us to meet him at his place first thing in the morning."

"Mmn…"

Ichigo helped Renji take off his clothes and they laid on the bed in silence. Even when he was a little hot, Ichigo wrapped himself around Renji. He hoped that bringing the redhead this close would keep the ghosts at bay. Renji put one of his hands on Ichigo's back and the other over his hairs, a little surprised by the sudden need from the cat. Ichigo closed his eyes, counting the heart beats of his partner.

"_You shouldn't be losing time like this."_

_It was that odd place. He almost forgot it. It was that place with the buildings laying in a horizontal way, the sky over them and no green or living creature around. His other half was looking at him with those golden eyes. It had the same odd remembrance of the human form of Toushirou, with his colorless fur and skin._

"_You fell in love with that red pineapple, could you be any stupider?"_

"_You are a part of me so you must be the same."_

"_Tcht. But you know, how long can you deny this?" _

_Shirosaki –that thing didn't had a name, but he got used to calling it that – lifted his left sleeve and showed the same mark that Ichigo had. "You know what this mean. He can sense us now, and he will come for us."_

"_Go away, Shirosaki."_

_Shirosaki walked away. _

"_Love makes everybody stupid."_

****=^..^=****

Urahara saw the difference in Ichigo's eyes. Absolute love for the red. And it hurt.

The nekobito was wearing the same uniform that Renji had lent the night before and it suited the orange cat. Urahara called Renji to his office and where a envelope laid on the table.

"You need to keep the promise. So go to work, I need to speak in private with Lieutenant Abarai." Kisuke voice lacked his usual playfulness, so Ichigo knew something wasn't right. But he complied and left them alone.

"Yes, Urahara-san."

Only after Ichigo closed the door Urahara spoke.

"I think we can call it a good deal."

"Excuse me?" said Renji.

"This." Urahara opened the envelop and highlighted a few points on the papers. It was the contract that he originally made with Ichigo in the broken glasses deal. "Ichigo should work for you for a month for free, doing your house cleaning or so and that should cover the price of the broken glasses. But if Ichigo did something special that decreased or even paid the total debt, the time at his service would be shortened or considered finished. I think that something like giving his virginity to you covers more than that debt, but I won't charge any extra fee only in this occasion."

Renji look at the contract and then to Urahara. He never read those things, but the thing that didn't like more was the tone of Urahara's voice.

"So, consider your contract with Ichigo fulfilled and culminated."

****=^..^=****

_**1-**still reading people? you all know I love to hear your opinions!  
**2-**Thank you PERSITENCE! even when you had to study you taked the time to read and correct this! I owe you a big, big one!_


	9. Chapter 8

**Gekkouha  
**_**Moonlight flower**_

_**Written by: **_**Maru de Kusanagi  
**_**Beta read by: **_**Persistence **_**(thank you again for being so nice to me)**_

_Started: November 2, 2009  
Ended: ¿?_

_**Disclaimer:**__ Bleach it's not mine. I wish it was. _

_**WARNINGS**__: yaoi, weird pairings, crazy writer. _**Some drug abuse mentioned**

_**-Terminology for this story-  
**_**DEMI-HUMAN:** _a half animal person, like the nekobito.  
_**NEKO:**_ 'cat' in Japanese.  
_**NEKOBITO:**_ it means 'cat person', and I made up this one. It's the conjunction of "neko" and "hito" (_person_). The Japanese grammar makes the 'h' change to a 'b' in this.  
_**INUBITO:**_ Dog + person… I don't like how it sounds, so, I don't think I'll be using it too much.  
_**KITSUNE:**_ it means fox… it was an easy one._

_I think I'm reaching the point where you start to think if you are writing something that makes actual sense. And the point where you start to realize how hard it is to write a story and you wanna kick everything to hell.... But don't worry! I'm not giving up yet! I have more to write yet. BTW, I had to do some research on the tree that's shows up finally here, and so, I hope I could get them closer to their actual character. If not, well, it-s another author liberties I took ^^_U BTW, I should had posted this yesterday, but I was too tired and forgot to do it....

**CHAPTER 8**

"The smell of death goes well with this scene"

Ulquiorra lifted his empty eyes at Aizen's words. The small inubito had killed the hunter that was sent after them without hesitation. He turned to attack Aizen, but the sudden energy that crept from that man's body made him rethink. It was strong, very strong. It looked at Aizen with interest.

"You never change that expression, Grand Fisher told that." Aizen looked at the scarred body of the hunter. Ulquiorra still had the warm blood covering his hand, it was a direct blow and he squeezed the heart with his fingers. The surprised expression of the hunter was still visible on his face. After that, Aizen turned to the blue haired nekobito "And he also spoke about this one, Grimmjow. Strong, but thick headed, blunt, and goes against anything without even thinking."

Grimmjow was on the floor badly hurt but still conscious. He was bitching and trying to get up.

"Stupid! Why didn't he kill before?" he looked at Ulquiorra with hatred.

"I don't waste time on trash." said Ulquiorra with his usual coolness.

"Where is the other two?" asked Aizen.

"They've run away."

"Oh." Aizen was a little disappointed, but then again, these two could be a very interesting if added to his collection. He preferred cats, but his maximum prize was when he put his hands on the silvery white one. Well, if there was something he had, it was patience. He asked to his second to bring both of them to his place.

Grimmjow was mad. Not only was he defeated by Ulquiorra again (who disagreed with fighting the hunter and killing him), but because he said that it would attract unnecessary attention towards them. Grimmjow started another fight but Ulquiorra had no trouble with leaving him on the ground and only killed the hunter because he threatened his life.

For Ulquiorra's motto in life, a thing such as emotion, a thing that couldn't be seen by his eyes, it didn't existed. He always clashed with the wild passion Grimmjow showed in his actions. In Gekkouha, it was always like that. He learned to forget about something so useless like feelings after being raised there. It wasn't needed to lose so much energy in those things. He obeyed Aizen because he was stronger than him, and back in the past, he escaped from Gekkouha with Toushirou and Ichigo because the orange cat showed how strong he could be when he got serious. But now they were probably dead, so he needed a new place where to stay. Aizen provided that if he obeyed. He accepted the deal, calling him "Aizen-sama".

Aizen was an expelled shinigami. He tried to trick his captain and was punished with the removal of his zanpakutou and kicked out of the Soul Society limits, but his remaining power was still something to fear. He had a follower named Kaname Tousen, a man with dark skin and blind, but was extremely perceptive of the world around him. In the human world, Aizen used his extremely bright and Machiavellian intellect for achieving an enormous fortune and with them he let his desires be satisfied. He couldn't get the throne to the world, but in his dominions he was an absolute ruler. The only law was his word and those who disobeyed were punished, even those who left everything for him. After a while, he picked his interest in the demi-humans. He hunted down most of them in the wild for tools and research, and for that he made the creation of Gekkouha, the Moon light flower demi-human project. In that place he gathered his better specimens and he discovered the differences that merged when the blood was mixed, by example:

_*****__a nekobito crossed with another of its kind had a pure breed offspring. Usually, the pure breeds were more instinct-guided creatures without the capacity to speak human language but understood it very well. They lacked of reiatsu._

_*****__a female nekobito crossed with a human had a mix breed with more animal abilities, but now it has the capacity to talk. This mixed creature had an unusual amount of reiatsu and can hide his appearance under a cat shape. That was the type Grimmjow and Toushirou were._

_*****__a male one crossed with a human woman also gave a mixed breed, but this time more human like. It was a very unusual type to find because the male nekobito turn very protective of his chosen partner and attack all other males who get close to the woman when he was around. For that, recent laws were trying to make this mix illegal. This was the origin of Ichigo, and Aizen chose Masaki especially for that. Losing the father was a little unexpected, but more when the woman disappeared with the child in her womb. For what he could gather after Ichigo was recovered (only to be lost again), was that this type hid his more animal nature inside, only to be released when it was needed or it was under a great pressure. It was highly probably that this mixed type had a stronger reiatsu than the other type, but the data was insufficient._** (1)**

_*****__a mix breed between an inu and a cat, or vice versa, was impossible._

On the other hand, the inubito turned to be a very disappointing race. Most of them had no fighting spirit and majority of the time they were very obedient to their master's desire (something he found very useful sometimes). So, he only kept those he found special.

And there was another type: the kitsune.

The remains of the goods in the woods were the reason why he got interested in the demi-humans to begin with.

He found a young silver colored fox named Gin a century ago and took him in with his partner, the female red fox called Rangiku. He raised both and studied their abilities and when they got older, Rangiku got pregnant of the silver fox seed, but while Gin was sent away on a mission, she lost the child. Aizen was experimenting with Rangiku abilities, specially the one she had to turn her entire body into ash and almost disappear. He wanted to see if something happened during the pregnancy, but she refused to cooperate. Aizen forced his mark on her, and Rangiku finally obeyed, but when her body was turned to flesh again, the baby's body was taken away by the wind. His energy was still too little to maintain itself when it was separated from the womb that broke the young fox spirit. Aizen was disappointed by this failure. **(2)**

"Well, only with observation and experimentation can you learn things. Now we know."

Then Rangiku tried to attack him, she was severely punished. When he thought the fox wasn't going to survive the brutal hits he gave her, he sold her to Grand Fisher. She miraculous survived, but was unable to bear more children (the kitsune were different to the neko and inu: being creatures of more pure origins. While their bodies were compatible they could have more than one child). Knowing this, the silver fox confronted Aizen but almost lost his life in the encounter and ran to the forest for protection. Aizen knew that Gin probably would go back for Rangiku when he discovered that she was alive, but he was a little surprised when the red fox didn't follow him back to the forest. She stayed behind to protect the four cubs that were in Gekkouha because it was impossible to take them in that moment. So Aizen still had his toys and he let Gin be. He would get him in time.

***=^..^=***

"So, you found him."

"Yes."

Aizen looked at him with his superior look. Only the presence of this man made Grimmjow blood burn, but what unnerved him the most was the obedient attitude Ulquiorra had for him. The mark on his back also burned and caused his will give in.

"And you were also smoking that trash again, weren't you?" asked Aizen "You've been a bad cat again, don't you think?"

Grimmjow roared feeling like a part of his back was ripped off. If only he could erase that man's smirk...

"I should kick you out; you have been more trouble than your worth. However I think there's still something useful in you, so this is your last chance. Catch those two or else." Aizen left Grimmjow shuddering on the floor with his mind black in pain. He hated that man, and he hated Ichigo and Toushirou for putting him in this situation.

He got up and went to his chamber. There he touched the still burning mark and hit the wall with anger. He wasn't anybody's pet, even when Aizen said otherwise. He hated many things in this world; he killed anyone who looked at him badly back at on the streets. That was what caused the citizens to call for a hunter in the first place. Dwelling in the stuff that people had in their pockets, he found the Paco pipe and tried it. That shit made a twirl run in his mind, he felt no hunger, fear, cold, heat, or anything. With it in his system, he could pass a week without eating. But it also made his companions want to get away from him, even the fights with Ichigo got fiercer. Ulquiorra looked at him with a stoic expression but something changed in his cold eyes. Deception?

The young inu was standing next to him, looking at him with those same eyes. He hated them.

"What do you want, dog?"

"I don't understand why you insist on keeping up this behavior."

"Heh," Grimmjow sat on the bed "Are ya worried, dog?"

Ulquiorra didn't answer. He only touched his face. Those damn eyes...

Grimmjow grabbed Ulquiorra's arm and threw him onto the bed. He straddled him and brought his face closer to the inu's. The same stoic expression, how he wanted to see it contorted to anger, pain, or anything**. **It wasn't the silence, that stupid silence.

"Get off me." said Ulquiorra calmly. "Trash."

In a fury movement, Grimmjow ripped the upper part of Ulquiorra clothes and saw a pink nipple. Next to it he saw a recent bite mark. Grimmjow blood burned again. He lowered his head and took the nipple in his teeth's to bit it hard making blood run down his chest. Ulquiorra hissed and Grimmjow licked the warm liquid.

The blue cat levered his head again.

"Do you enjoy being his pet that much?" whispered Grimmjow against his throat and bit it. "The obedient pet of your Aizen-sama?"

Ulquiorra kicked him on the stomach and broke free. It was easy, because Grimmjow had lost a lot of weight since the last time and because of his addiction, his mind usually was groggy and fuzzed by the toxics. Where was the brave, untamed creature he was back then? This broken creature… wasn't the man he knew. This was… trash.

But still, for some reason he couldn't look away from him yet.

"You would never understand," said the inu, walking away "_trash_. This time, I'll look for them."

Oh, how Grimmjow wanted to rip the inu's _head _off at that moment!

"Don't fuck with me, Ulquiorra! I can get them!"

"So, do it."

****=^..^=****

_"So, consider your contract with Ichigo fulfilled and ended."_

The words sank into Renji's ears.

"Don't worry, I'll send back the uniform you lent to him." Said Urahara and pushed the papers towards Renji "If you need, I can give you a receipt."

"Forget it." Renji cut sharply "I won't leave this place with that. I want to do a new contract if that's what you want me to do. I'll pay anything!"

"So, you are saying you want a new deal?" asked Urahara, looking at him under the shadow of his hat.

"I'll purchase Ichigo." yelled Renji, hitting the table hard "Just give me a damn price!"

Urahara frowned at the red head.

"You think it would be as simple as that, that you can come in and require me to sell him to you just like that? I thought you were a man of more principles, but I made a mistake. I want you out of my house."

"Look who's talking about principles about principles?!" yelled Renji "You're the one who marked him like an ordinary animal!" Renji was about to jump over the man with the hat when an unsheathed sword pointed at him.

"You know nothing about Ichigo or me so watch your words, young one" the reiatsu from Urahara rose and Renji felt the oppression. It was incredible, just like a captains! "I will ask you again to leave this place and never come back. You're banned of our costumers list."

Renji considered his options. If he fought this man, he wasn't sure if he would win. If he did win, he still had to explain to his superiors why he destroyed the place and killed its owner. However he wasn't going to let the thing like this go and he moved his hand to the hilt of his zanpakutou.

"Stop," a hand on his shoulder called for his attention. Renji turned and saw the tanned figure of Yoruichi. "You think Ichigo would want this? If you care for him, you should let things end here, or do you think he wouldn't be sad if something happened to you?"

Renji wasn't a man who chickened out of a fight, but the woman was right. He should think of Ichigo.

He left the place without looking back at Urahara.

"Wasn't that a little too much?" she asked when the young shinigami disappeared.

"He doesn't have what is needed. That's why I wanted Ichigo to be with Kuchiki. He can protect him."

"But you forgot that Ichigo doesn't belong to you. He only works for you because he respects you and he feels he owes you. But when a person falls in love, he will sacrifice anything for love."

****=^..^=***

"_I want to purchase him."_

Those words carved into Ichigo's heart, and the pain was almost unbearable. He ran inside the store.

He should have known better.

Renji didn't promise anything to him. He didn't even say if he loved him, and when he thought about it carefully, Renji probably had fallen under the spell of his pheromones.

He heard Renji's footsteps disappear with each passing second. It was funny how in such little time he got so used and knew so much about him. He wanted to run after him, but used all his will to stop himself. He felt his heart dividing into two parts: the one who told him to stay there and obey the man who protected them all these years while the other screamed to run after the red haired shinigami. There was one other thing pulsing in his arm.

"Brother" Toushirou jumped to his shoulder "I'm sorry. But I had warned you about that, these people are very sensitive to our pheromone's effects." the white cat caressed Ichigo's face with his nose, purring. It was something he only did to get Ichigo calm down. "Do you want me to punish him?" he hissed, and Ichigo felt the cold energy creep from the cat's body "I can do it, if you let me."

Ichigo clenched his fists.

"We... have work to do, Toushirou." Ichigo said, getting the cat down of his shoulder.

"Brother..."

****=^..^=***

The morning after his medic days ended, Renji showed up late for work. After Ichigo was taken away from his side, he was found by Rukia at the bar drowning in sake. Why was life such a bitch? Even if he tried to claim himself down, many would think he had gone crazy. Nobody did so much for a demi-human's company. His friend took him back home and heard his bitching until she got tired and kicked him. She called him a coward.

"Who cares? We already lived this, Renji, when we got accepted by the academy and endured the others looking down at us. We always had things different from others, but who cares? If you do love him, you shouldn't give up."

He sat at his desk and felt the hangover pulsing in his head. He only wanted that fucking day to end after he drank. He needed it. His hand touched something and saw over the table was something wrapped in a piece of cloth. He opened it and found the uniform he lent Ichigo, perfectly washed and folded.

Just perfect.

"Lieutenant, I want to speak to you" the cold voice of Byakuya was the last thing Renji wanted to hear at the moment. But he got up of his place and went to his captain's office. Byakuya was sitting in his chair with his immaculate look: the perfect hair arrangement, the steel color eyes with his usual uncaring expression, and the haori fitting perfectly his body. Renji stopped a few feet in front of his desk.

"I heard some unexpected news about your behavior in Urahara Store." said Byakuya with his usual coldness "Urahara-san said you threatened him."

"That I did what?" Renji used all his patience to keep his voice at a normal level "That man decided to suddenly break the contract I had with Ichigo and when I requested a new one he denied me the chance!" Byakuya looked hard at him and Renji remembered to low his voice.

"He said you tried to push him to sell you one of his servants, the orange cat named Ichigo."

"I wanted to purchase him so he wouldn't need to sell himself again." Renji said these words without even thinking them. "And he denied me the chance to even explain myself. He said I wasn't the person he expected…"

"So you were banned." Byakuya stated without even raising an eyebrow.

"Yes..." said Renji.

"But he also said that you tried to attack him and he had to defend himself. That's why he called me. You shouldn't push like that. You don't know if even he desires to sell him."

"It's not that." said Renji "He... didn't want me close to him. It was as if I had taken something from him."

"You know that something like this can win you a suspension or a time on detention. If this matter even reaches Sou-taichou Yamamoto, could end on your expulsion."

"I know that, Captain Kuchiki!" this time Renji didn't try to lower his voice and his expression showed his desperation "But I only wanted to keep Ichigo by my side... So he's not treated like some sort of animal again." the red head felt the odd burn on his cheeks. So many times he had faced death and this simple realization made him nervous: "I think I've fallen for him...."

Byakuya's expression softened only a little when he heard that. He remembered when he and Hisana purchased Uryu at the Demi-Human Auction. He understood the feelings that troubled his second seat, but acting so reckless was not allowed.

"I'll send you to investigate again that abandoned shrine. There's a theory of what's happening there so I think sometime away could cool down you. If this goes well, I'll think about talking to the owner." Renji's eyes looked at his captain like if he was an apparition. He was going to help him? Before his mouth hit the table, Byakuya spoke with his monotone voice "And it is not an option, it's a direct order."

Renji sighed; he should have known his captain wouldn't be so generous.

"Rukia will meet you there. You will depart tonight."

"Yes sir."

****=^..^=****

The day ended and Ichigo decided to get to sleep, but he received a call from Urahara. He avoided meeting him all the day, doing all the house works he could find. But now it was impossible.

Ichigo had acquired a pained expression on his face. It wasn't the usual brave or the glare he gave to most people. His pain was so deep that he couldn't hide it. It was like the time Ichigo told him why they ran away from Gekkouha. Urahara felt a little guilty, but Ichigo had to remember his place.

"Ichigo" he finally said. "You have a dinner invitation at the Kuchiki residence in one hour. It's been a while since you met with Kuchiki, so I think you should attend."

Ichigo clenched his fists. He didn't want to; he wasn't going to be with anyone that wasn't Renji. However if Urahara insisted, he would attend, but he would keep his distance from the noble.

"Yes Urahara-san."

"Ichigo, I also wanted to talk you about what happened yesterday."

"There's nothing else to talk about. I was the one who fulfilled the contract by sleeping with him so I think it is a closed matter."

"Ichigo" Urahara caught his hand "I'm not the enemy here."

Ichigo only released his hand and went to get ready.

It wasn't Byakuya who called for him, it was Rukia. Ichigo was a little surprised when he was guided to her room.

"Renji never was a man who knew how to express himself properly."she suddenly said "He always was more a man of action than words, but I think that's what you like about him, don't you?"

Ichigo blushed at her words.

"I know what happened." she continued "My brother decided to send Renji away to investigate the shrine where we were attacked the other day."

Hearing this, Ichigo couldn't hide his fears: what if this time the red head got killed?

He pushed these thoughts away; it wasn't like Renji cared for him.

"Don't get my brother wrong, he only wants things to cool down a little, but I think we can do something about it."

"Renji… Renji only wanted to purchase me like one of those damn glasses he collects."

Rukia stayed silent for a moment.

"I don't want that… I don't want to be a toy for him."

"Did he talk to you about it?"

"No."

"He told me that he doesn't want you to keep selling yourself…"

"I don't need his pity."

"Ichigo," Rukia calculated her words "Renji wouldn't do that. He loves you and if you didn't love him back this situation wouldn't be affecting you this much."

Ichigo kept silent for a moment and then said, "Why did you do this? You like him too."

Rukia blushed when her secret was discovered. Ichigo was more perceptive than what she thought… or only was perceptive when it was something that involved the red head because he didn't react to Orihime's flirting or Urahara's wanting eyes.

"It is not like I can't live without him." She answered "He loves you, not me. Not that way in any case. We grew up in Rukongai Inuzuri district. After losing many friends, we entered the Shinigami Academy and became one. This was more than a century ago, but we are getting out of the topic and the time is running short." She gave him a letter. Ichigo opened it and read that he was required in some research. It was signed by Byakuya itself.

"Even your master wouldn't reject an invitation letter signed by Byakuya Kuchiki, saying that your nekobito abilities are highly necessary."

Rukia smiled at him.

"It's fake, right?"

"Not quite... It's a letter that was a little modified by a friend."

Running in the middle of the night with the black haired shinigami wasn't something he expected when he was called. He even had his doubts in accepting this job, however, thinking of being with Renji again made his heart jump in joy. This warming his body from inside wasn't only some heated desire of mating season, it was love.

Ichigo had never been so far away from Uharara's. The forest's trees danced softly in the night breeze and his senses felt all the nature aromas. He never felt so much at home like in this place.

"So, here we are now" whispered Toushirou on his shoulder. He wasn't going to leave his brother with the red head again.

"Rukia" called Renji, coming out of the wood "Why did you take so long… Ichigo?! What are you doing here?"

"Heh. Brother said that his nekobito abilities could be useful." Answered her.

"And I wanted to punish you for making my brother sad!" yelled the white cat and Renji had to avoid some sharp icicles.

"Toushirou! Stop it!" The white cat looked back. He had never seen so much anger towards him in his brother's eyes. Before Ichigo said something regretful, Rukia stepped in between them.

"Well" she caught the cat in her arms "I think it's our turn to do some patrolling. We'll leave you two alone."

Renji waited for them do disappear before he started to talk.

"So…"

"I wanted to tell you that I don't need your pity" Ichigo said before Renji could continue with his arms crossed and frowning at him "I have lived my life as I needed it and I hate when people look down on me thinking that I had a hard life because of what I am. I don't need you to rescue me if that was your intention…"

Ichigo couldn't say anymore, Renji had grabbed him by the arms and kissed him hard.

"Stupid cat" he said then, now holding Ichigo's face in his hands "Don't you understand that I've fallen for you? The last thing I want is for you to be with anyone else."

Ichigo looked into Renji's eyes. The man's passion was the same he felt the first day.

"Nobody had the right to touch you if was not me. If I saw you even walking with another, I don't know what I'd do."

Ichigo snaked his arms around Renji's waist while the red head kissed him again. He was drowning in this love and he didn't even care to avoid it. He just wanted to feel Renji's skin against his. The strong arms holding him, the hard passion reaching deep inside him, and making him lose all his senses when he reached his climax.

When _did_ Renji take their clothes off? Damn, he was fast!

The red head lifted his left arm and the numbers carved in his skin were barely visible, but both knew they were there. Ichigo suddenly felt ashamed of that and tried to get free, but the red head refused to let go. Renji kissed the marked skin instead.

"Nobody's has the right to mark you."

"Nobody but you." Added Ichigo, bringing him closer.

_**1-**__just in case if you wondered, Uryu's mom was a mixed breed. That's why his dad abandoned him.  
__**2-**__please, don't look for me to kill me. I know I've had been extremely mean to her, but it was needed in order to explain why she was so attached to the four little ones.  
__**3-**__this chapter was written like some sort of puzzle... I started to write one part, later other and then I got the two files arranged together. And I hope this didn't turned to be too much corny... I tend to leave my romance vein get the best of me.  
__**4-**__I still don't know how to end this! _

_And I know that from the next chapter many persons will want my head..._


	10. Chapter 9

**Gekkouha  
**_**Moonlight flower**_

_**Written by: **_**Maru de Kusanagi  
**_**Beta read by: **_**Persistence**

_Started: November 2, 2009  
__Ended: ¿?_

_**Disclaimer:**__ Bleach it's not mine. I wish it was. I'm only borrowing them for a while.  
__**WARNINGS:**__ Yaoi, weird pairings, weird stuff, crazy writer! character death and __**child abuse in this chapter**__ (please don't kill me).  
**PAIRINGS:** mainly Renji/ichigo, but there's also some Byakuya/Ishida, some Grimjow/Ulquiorra, Gin/Rangiku (mention), Aizen/Toushirou and I'm still deciding on the Gin/Hitsugaya. _

**_AUTHOR'S NOTE (that nobody care about):  
_**_YAY! Chapter 9! I can't even believe it! So, in this one, a pretty silver fox finally enters on scene and I think it will be the last one to be add. I think my Gin will be a sort of tribute to my teacher on the fanfiction matter: _Maiuneko._ She was the one who wrote the best King of Fighter's fics on Spanish that I ever found, and she did such excellent work on her novel (that story was so well done and long that I can't put it other title) "TAIYOU, TSUKI, HONOO TO BARA" (a KOF – YYHakusho crossover!) over the Iori/Kyo and the Kurama/Hiei pairings, that still, after ten years, I look for it and read it again. I'm a fiction collector, so most of the fics that I have on my favorites are saved on my PC or CD's. The Kurama Youko of her was so sexy that when I look at Gin, I can't avoid remembering that. I mean, I know they're completely different… but the way Youko does whatever he needs to have what he wants… I think Gin it's like that, selfish, don't give straight answers and you never know what he thinks. That doesn't mean that he don't have a heart, but it's hard to see behind the mask he wears. __Oh, and a sexaholic too (in my mind, the foxes can't avoid be like that!)_

_**-Terminology for this story-  
**_**DEMI-HUMAN:** _a half animal person, like the nekobito.  
_**NEKO:**_ 'cat' in Japanese.  
_**NEKOBITO:**_ it means 'cat person', and I made up this one. It's the conjunction of "neko" and "hito" (_person_). The Japanese grammar makes the 'h' change to a 'b' in this.  
_**INUBITO:**_ Dog + person… I don't like how it sounds, so, I don't think I'll be using it too much.  
_**KITSUNE:**_ fox_

_****_

_Forgive me for I don't know what I gain_  
_Alone in this garden of pain_  
_Enchantment has but one truth:_  
_I weep to have what I fear to lose_

**_Nightwish:_**** Gethsemane****(1)**

**CHAPTER 9  
**It was a calm night, like usual. The silver fox looked at the moon while sitting on the rooftop of the shrine. It was where he lived, and once in a while other demi-humans would pass by and he would let them stay there. The other day, a hollow possessed a grey nekobito that was living there for about a month and the two shinigamis killed him. He didn't feel sorry for it because it was weak enough to let him be devoured. Gin knew that most of the hollows that showed up there were after him, most likely sent by his ex-master, but he had no problem with taking care of them. However, hiding his reiatsu inside a nekobito was something new. Well, it did make his days a little more fun.

Now, two shinigamis had entered the forest with two demi-humans. The two demi-humans were different to those that he usually saw, these two had reiatsu, so they should be tamed and probably would attract for more hollows.

He waved his tail and sniffed the air.

Sex?

That was something new…

The other two were getting closer to his place and something familiar was with the demi- no, it was a nekobito. From his observation spot he could now see the frame of the female shinigami and the white figure over her shoulder now. Interesting.

Rukia stopped at the entrance of the shrine. She looked at the rooftop where the shape of a figure was just a second ago.

"I think I felt something."

Toushirou jumped down and walked closer, moving his ears and his tail with attention.

"I can feel it. There's something living here."

"Can you call to come out? I would like to talk with it."

Toushirou walked around the entrance.

"I'm not sure. If it's a wild, it won't come out. And if it's a kitsune… well, they only come out when something they desire is offered to them."

"You know a lot about of them, like when you explained it to us at the cafeteria."

Toushirou walked inside.

"No" his white fur shined, like he had his own light source "I knew a kitsune, a long time ago."

Inside it was complete darkness and a few ghosts passed by them. Rukia did a konso on the lost souls while Toushirou followed behind.

Suddenly, the backyard of the shrine appeared in front of Toushirou. He turned to look for Rukia but she wasn't there. The big full moon shined almost like a sun with her cold light.

"Rukia-san?"

"Here" he heard the voice of the shinigami to his right. "Wow that was strange."

Toushiro looked at her when she came closer.

"Do you feel it now? I lost its trace…"

Rukia extended a hand to touch him but Toushirou hissed.

"Who are you?" Toushirou fur rose and he flinched, pulling his ears down. He started to shine with his cold power radiating off of him and Rukia looked at him in confusion.

"It's me. What happens to you?"

One icicle crushed in the ground in front of her.

"I won't fail again. Reveal yourself!"

Rukia looked at him in silence and suddenly her face contorted in a strange grin. Her eyes closed and two pointy ears appeared, followed with a fluffy tail.

"Well, you are no fun." The half form of Rukia stated. "I thought I could have a little more fun with ya, Shirou-chan."

And then the frame changed completely to a silver fox.

"But you are a cute chibi!" said the fox with his playful tone "You shouldn't be so serious!"

"Don't call me that!" yelled Toushirou and sent a wave of ice towards the fox who jumped towards the other side of the yard.

He hated being called by that word. It was the word _that man_ called him back then. Running after the fox, he didn't see that passing a bush that was precipice and he nearly fell on it. He tried to catch a branch, but it was hard to regain his balance.

"Such a hot headed, even when you have the power of the ice" said the fox from above, looking at him with those closed eyelids. "Want me to save you?"

Toushirou made an ice path and ran over. The fox laughed.

"Good, good Shirou-chan." congratulated the kitsune.

"Where's Rukia?"

"Oh…her? I eat her."

The fox again avoided an icicle.

"I don't think that you can eat her in six seconds!"

"Oh, you realized it?"

Then a strange energy crept again and a monstrous figure appeared. It howled like it was in pain and a hole in the middle of its body was visible.

"Why can't I ever have any fun?" asked the fox and his frame changed again. Now it was a man, a thin figure with short silver hair. It had the pointy ears and the tail and wore a sky-blue yukata. It stood in front of the creature with his imperturbable grin.

The monster roared and lurched itself against the kitsune, who jumped gracefully and with a touch of his hand the head of the monster exploded.

Toushirou was speechless, how could this creature be so powerful and yet hiding his presence so well? The fox fell to the ground without making a sound and turned to look at Toushirou.

"Behind you."

Toushirou barely covered his body with an ice shield, but one of his legs was scrapped by the paw of the second hollow. He called upon his ice again, but his energy wasn't enough to freeze it.

"Don't be stupid, use your human form." called the fox. "In that size you can never use your full power."

"Never!" yelled Toushirou panting. He avoided the attack again and threw another icicle at the hollow's head, leaving it blind. The wound and the amount of energy he was using were leaving him dry. When he tried to move, his legs gave up and he fell to the ground. Damn, damn, dam!

"So stubborn." said the kitsune and went ahead. With a swift movement, he cut the hollow's head off.

"That was unnecessarily reckless, you know." said the fox, getting closer to the tired form of Toushirou.

Toushirou only glared from being too tired to come up with an answer. The kitsune crouched next to him and his grin disappeared for a moment. Then, he took one of Toushirou front legs and picked him up. Toushirou yelped and then saw that his body had changed. It was the same body he had back then.

"What have you done?" he screamed, looking at himself and then discovering his nudeness and quickly covered his private parts with his hands.

"You were cursed by a fox. That's why, when I touched you, your human form was retrieved. That's why you couldn't call back any clothes to cover you."

The kitsune made a snap with his fingers and a cape appeared. He gave it to Toushirou, who took it with anger.

"Turn me back." said Toushirou.

"What?"

"I said turn me back into a cat! I don't ever want to go back to this body!"

"Well, Shirou-chan..."

"My name it's not Shirou-chan! It's Toushirou!"

"And I'm Gin, nice to meet ya!"

Gin held out his hand and Toushirou reject it.

"Turn me back!"

"I can't." said the fox, and Toushirou looked at him with wide eyes "You smell like Ran... She was the one who could do that stuff, I don't have the power. And you can call back your cat form by will... But I think it will take some time to learn to do it."

Toushirou eyes closed when the tears started to flow. He felt so much anger! He hated this form; it was the reason why that man put his hands over him on that occasion. He clutched hard on the piece of cloth that covered him now. Yes, sometimes his human form appeared in the past, but only when he was annoyed. But now, living again like this...

"I'm going to kill you..." shouted the nekobito, drying the tears of his face.

"Now, now, chibi..."

Toushirou grabbed the upper part of Gin's yukata.

"Don't YOU EVER CALL ME _THAT_!"

Then, the red color showed. Two gems burning in the silver. Gin punched Toushirou and made him fall.

"I think you have no right to give me orders on my home, and less when you are so weak."

Toushirou cleaned the blood on his mouth and then he could see the numbers carved on his wrist. Rangiku.

"You said Ran... You mean Rangiku?"

He didn't hope for an answer but the fox did.

"Yes."

"Then, why didn't you save her? Why did you leave her there?" the fox face lacked his grin but the eyes were closed again "She's dead now!"

"You will never understand it, cat."

Gin went to his side and placed a hand over the wound on Toushirou's leg. The silver fox's reiatsu shined. After a while, it was healed. Then, without any warning, Gin kissed Toushirou's forehead.

"Sleep."

***=^..^=***

"Did you ever fight a hollow before, Ichigo?"

"No."

Small hollows came from nowhere just when he and Renji were having some fun. Ichigo only had time to put his pants back on and Renji had the upper part of his uniform open, letting the hard muscles show. Ichigo was annoyed that he wanted to get this done so he could caress them again.

"But I think I'd like to learn." said Ichigo, baring his fangs and his claws.

Renji took his zanpakutou and said, "Remember, try to cut his head off, it's the fastest way to get rid of them. Howl, Zabimaru!"

Ichigo jumped on one of the hollows and sank his fangs into its neck. With a strong hit, he cracked the mask and later scratched its throat with his claws. He turned to see Renji and Zabimaru, cutting the hollows down with no trouble. Ichigo felt proud of his man and walked over to him, but something made him stop in his tracks.

"Ichigo? What's wrong?"

Ichigo face was muted in fear. He turned back and saw the figure of Grimmjow behind him and the tall figure of Aizen showed up.

"Who are you?" asked Renji, going next to Ichigo.

"Good day, my name is Sosuke Aizen and I think that creature belongs to me." said the man with perfect etiquette and signaled to the orange cat.

Ichigo instinctively put a hand over the numbers of his arm. Seeing this, Renji pointed Zabimaru at Aizen.

"So it was you who did that to Ichigo?"

Aizen looked at him, amused. "Yes, because I purchased him when he was a child. Isn't the right thing to do when you purchase a pet is to let others know that it's yours if it ever escaped or got lost? This one showed to be a very mischievous."

Ichigo grabbed Renji's arm. _Don't let him take me away from you._

"Ichigo is not going with you."

Aizen smiled. "Young shinigami, I think you should avoid unnecessary trouble and let us be. I'm just here for what belongs to me. Come on, Ichigo." said Aizen "It's time to go back."

"I'll never go back to you." said Ichigo.

"Get him, Grimmjow." said Aizen.

"Roar, Zabimaru!" Renji launched his attack at Aizen while Ichigo dealt with Grimmjow.

"Why are you with him?" Ichigo asked the blue haired cat.

"This is your fault. He found us after we killed the hunter, and because we were with you two, he took us as a replacement!"

"So, Ulquiorra is alive?" Ichigo asked, holding off one of Grimmjow's hits.

"Yes. But we are his pets because of you two!"

One of Grimmjow claws dug a deep cut into Ichigo arm.

"Don't hurt him too much, Grimmjow." said Aizen and with a swift movement he caught Zabimaru on his bare hand. "Even as I am now, you still need at least another century of training, shinigami."

Aizen pulled Zabimaru and with a fist covered of reiatsu he pierced Renji's stomach.

"Renji!" yelled Ichigo, but Grimmjow jumped over him. Renji coughed up blood and Ichigo roared and bit Grimmjow's shoulder, ripping a piece of flesh. Grimmjow yelled and when he tried to attack him again, Ichigo gave him a hard punch that broke his nose. The gold was again shining in his eyes and he ran at Aizen.

"Stop right there."

The numbers on Ichigo's arm burned and the nekobito yelled in pain, falling to the ground. His fur looked less orange now; maybe it was effect of the moon light? Ichigo showed his fangs to Aizen while he still held the broken figure of Renji in his arms.

"Such a beautiful creature." said Aizen, almost marveled by the ferocity that Ichigo was showing "You have been too naughty, Ichigo."

Ichigo tried to get up, but the marks burned again.

"That marks are a seal made with my own power. You can't disobey me when I use it and less now that you've already reached your maturity. It was my first present to you as your master."

Ichigo scratched the marks, trying to rip the skin.

"Stop it. You can't erase them; they are carved on your reiatsu."

Aizen threw the wounded Renji next to Ichigo, who crawled to his side. Renji was barely breathing.

"This is your fault, Ichigo. If you weren't so stubborn, he wouldn't be so hurt now." said Aizen "And I can kill him so easily now..."

"No!"

Ichigo covered Renji with his body. He could feel the labored breath of the red head against his naked skin.

Aizen grabbed Ichigo by the hair and made him stand.

"Then obey me as you should."

Ichigo looked with hatred at this man who only cared for his own pleasures and never felt the less piety to the ones he used. He felt tears run down his cheek and lowered his eyes.

"Yes..."

"Yes what?"

"Yes, master Aizen."

"That's better, cat." Aizen released him and Ichigo fell to the ground. "Hurry and get up, we need to go."

Ichigo looked once more at Renji, and then got up to follow him.

"Aizen-sama" said Ulquiorra, who appeared next to the fallen figure of Grimmjow. "Grimmjow is wounded. He needs attention."

"Kill it." said Aizen.

"What?"

Aizen turned to look at Ulquiorra, who never questioned his orders.

"Kill it. It's useless."

Ulquiorra's eyes suddenly showed his surprise. He looked at Grimmjow and then to his master.

"Why? You let him be when he did worst things..."

"He couldn't fulfill my orders, and this has been his last chance. I don't need something so useless. I got tired of you coming at my bed for my mercy towards him."

"Ulquiorra..." said Grimmjow in ragged breaths "What the fuck is he saying...?"

Ulquiorra looked at him with is stoic face, but in his eyes shined.

"I can't obey that order, master."

Ulquiorra suddenly fell to the ground over Grimmjow clutching his hand against his heart. The usual expressionless face was contorted in pain.

"Is almost a pity that you, being such a good servant, decided to do this. Don't forget that my seal was written on your heart."

Ulquiorra's mouth opened in a silent scream and then his body fell limp over Grimmjow's chest.

"Ulquiorra...?"

"Useless." said Aizen "Come on, Ichigo."

And without looking back, Aizen left, dragging Ichigo with him.

"Ulqui... orra..."

Grimmjow had to use all his remaining strength to sit up straight and raise the inu's face. The eyes looked at him with something odd.

"Why...?"

"You always been like that..." said the inu "You never been able to see more than what you desired... But you made me realize that my heart had been always yours..."

"Stupid dog... Why didn't ya say it?"

"As I said: you wouldn't understand. Even I don't know why I feel for you."

Grimmjow squeezed his teeth and felt the odd warmness on his face.

How could he be crying?

"Live, Grimm..." **(2)**

***=^..^=***

"_Toushirou?"_

"_Yeah?"_

"_What happened today in the master's office?"_

"_Nothing… why do you ask?"_

"_Something bothers you."_

_Actually, after that meeting Toushirou felt a strange anxiety that told him to run away from that place because something bad was going to happen. Tomorrow Aizen said he was coming to see him in private._

"_Nah, don't worry." He saw Ichigo scratching the inner part of his left arm and decided to take a look._

"_What's this?" some numbers were carved in the soft skin, still red._

"_The masters sent somebody to do it meanwhile you were in his office. He said it was necessary."_

_Toushirou swallowed, trying to get the knot out of his throat. It was the same number that Aizen marked in his wrist this afternoon! So he and Ichigo were given to that man?_

_No. He would do anything to avoid his little brother being hurt._

"_Toushirou?"_

"_It's late, let's go to sleep."_

"_And Grim?"_

"_He will come back when somebody kicks him in the ass."_

_Ichigo laughed at this._

**"**_I'll go for him__**"**__ said Ulquiorra with his bored voice and left the dormitory. Who could understand that dog?_

_The morning came, but the sun hid behind the grey clouds. It threatened to rain. The boys hated those days, usually they were sent to learn some boring for their future owners. Rangiku called Toushirou in mid morning to her side. It was time to get him ready for Aizen. _

_She bathed him with extreme care, even when he wasn't a child anymore and did not need help in that. Even when he blushed and tried to push her away to leave him alone. She gave him some oil to pass on his pearly skin which smelled like sandal wood. Toushirou complied with her request and let her to dry his hair with one towel. For a moment, Rangiku felt like she was getting her son ready for a wedding… nothing farther from reality._

_She gave him a pretty yukata in cerulean color, with white cranes in the lower part. He was so beautiful. She couldn't avoid hugging him hard to her chest. _

"_Rangiku… I can't breathe…"_

"_Sorry, Shirou-chan." She said and found a lonely tear on her cheek._

"_Are you ok?"_

_She didn't answer. She took the dirty clothes and put it in a basket. Later, she took Toushirou to the costumer's dining room. It was noon already._

"_I'm sorry" she said in such a low voice that Toushirou almost couldn't hear when he entered the room and the door was closed behind him. Aizen was already there._

"_Hello, Toushirou." Aizen eyes shined again with that strange light. It was desire. His instincts screamed for him to run, but he didn't chickened. Stubborn kid. "Come, sit and eat. It's already lunch time."_

_Toushiro got closer and sat in front of Aizen and watched the young nekobito eat. The food was delicious and he forgot his fears while he got distracted by this. When he finished his plate, he looked back at Aizen._

_"Chibi, it was good?"_

_Toushirou blushed hearing that name._

_"Yes, sorry..."_

_"Don't be, chibi. You're so pretty."_

_Aizen hand went to his face and the other to his leg. Toushirou found this very uncomfortable and tried to get away._

_"Want to know what's for dessert?" said Aizen very close to his face "Ice cream..."_

_Toushirou could be innocent, but he then realized that letting his guard down was a mistake. The hand in his leg moved to his inner thigh and the other went inside of his yukata._

_"No...!" Toushirou called for his cold power and Aizen's hand got covered by ice. The man frowned and Toushirou felt the mark on his wrist burn, his senses be overwhelmed by the pain. He yelled._

_"Bad chibi, I need to teach you to respect your master." said Aizen and he loosened the obi of Toushirou, with it tied his hands on his back. He then opened the yukata and found the cat's erection._

_"Such a cute thing, chibi."_

_Toushirou trashed, but Aizen fastened his legs with his weight and licked the tears that now ran down Toushirou's face. Delicious._

_It didn't take too much to make the cat come in his hand, and Toushirou never felt so drained and ashamed. He only saw white spots on his eyes and then heard some noises, like robes being removed. Then, his legs were grabbed and separated and now a hand was touching his entrance, fingers pushing inside him shamelessly._

_"No!"_

_The fingers didn't stop until they found something inside him that made him yell again in shame and pleasure._

_"Cute chibi..." said Aizen, his voice husky on desire. He caressed that without any hesitation, making the white voice his excitement._

_The fingers were removed and then something else pushed his way in._

_"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"_

Toushirou ran until the sun blinded his eyes and the stopped next to a sakura tree. He leaned down and threw up.

Panting, he wiped his mouth. He felt like he had a fever.

"Always so noisy in the morning?"

Toushirou turned fast to see the thin frame of the fox looking at him. That fucking grin made his blood burn. He blindly launched at him but the fox grabbed one of his arms and kicked the back of one of his knees, making him fall. The cat struggled until broken sobs could be heard.

"I hate you! Why you did this to me?" Gin didn't know if the cat was talking to him then "Why I was even born...?"

The cat stayed silent for a moment and then lifted his eyes to Gin's.

"Why didn't you kill me?" said Toushirou "This is your territory, right? You could have killed me and nobody would complain about it..."

Gin released the nekobito and Toushirou crumbled on the ground.

"Be a man. Ran should have seen something in you worth of saving."

_He's just like him, Gin. Like the baby that died... I saw him in a dream...  
__I can't leave him like that, Gin._

***=^..^=***

_**1-**__I wanted to put this lyrics from a while, I think this suit well the story.  
__**2-**__please, don't kill me! But this was the thing I had planned for this two, I even was never show Ulquiorra alive in the beginning, but this turned like this. What's going to do Grimmjow now?  
__**3-**__Didn't I ask to not desire me death? I must give my thanks and apologies to _**Persistence**_ for still being with me after this chapter. I know I have been very mean here.  
**4-** somebody said that I sound too insecure and lazy. Well, I am both. I'm just human and sometimes I have a lot of things to deal with, and I don't want to sound too arrogant by saying "I'm the best at this", nothing farther from the truth. I understand that I made many mistakes when posting the links to this fic, but if nobody read this, well, I had bad luck. Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy to see that some persons came, read and answered me and gave me their support, and I wouldn't be publishing this if I didn't want to share it. I like to share personal thing like this because I think it gave more sense to why an story ended like that._

_BTW, next week I'll have a new pc, so the next update surely will delay a little. My big bro is going to give his and I'm going to sell my old one!_


	11. Chapter 10

**Gekkouha  
****_Moonlight flower_**

**_Written by: _****Maru de Kusanagi  
****_Beta read by: _****Persistence**

_Started: November 2, 2009  
__Ended: ¿?_

**_Disclaimer:_**_ Bleach it's not mine. I wish it was.  
_**_WARNINGS_**_: yaoi, weird pairings, crazy writer.  
**PAIRINGS:** mainly Renji/Ichigo, but there's also some Byakuya/Ishida, some Grimjow/Ulquiorra, Gin/Rangiku (mention), Aizen/Toushirou and I'm still deciding on the Gin/Hitsugaya.  
**RATING:** M_

**_-Terminology for this story-  
_****DEMI-HUMAN:** _a half animal person, like the nekobito.  
_**NEKO:**_ 'cat' in Japanese.  
_**NEKOBITO:**_ it means 'cat person', and I made up this one. It's the conjunction of "neko" and "hito" (_person_). The Japanese grammar makes the 'h' change to a 'b' in this.  
_**INUBITO:**_ Dog + person… I don't like how it sounds, so, I don't think I'll be using it too much.  
_**KITSUNE:**_ fox_

_****_

_**Well, nobody asked for my head yet, so I suppose I'm safe for now. I've downloaded lots of new doujins!!!! So I have more inspiration now, but I'm sorry this chapter is crappy and short. The memories are starting to be show.**_

**CHAPTER 10  
**Rain. The rain he had desired for was now falling in the sideway world of his mind where only he and his other half existed.

Rain.

This rain didn't give any physical sensation: cold or wetness. However, it gave such uneasiness to the heart and pain to the soul that he would have been better with the cold or anything else.

_Didn't I tell you this was going to happen?_

Ichigo didn't react to the mocking voice; he was so tired of everything. Rukia and Toushirou were probably dead. Ulquiorra and Grimmjow too.

Renji was not dead, but he was hurt because of him. All the people that he loved and tried to protect ended up that way.

The rain fell harder, and in front of the him and his reflection a door appeared. Without a sound, it opened slowly. Shirosaki looked at the door and knew what came from there. It was the door to his memories and Ichigo began to remember.

It was raining that day and they were confined to a room to do some practicing. Toushirou was taken from his side around mid morning and he didn't see him until lunch. Rangiku appeared with a strange expression on her face, and when he asked for the white cat, he only got silence as response.

When they ate lunch, Ichigo felt like something was wrong. It was like… as if something terrible had happened. Moreover, when he was going to finally taste his food, a sound came to his ears. It was like a scream, muted by the distance. Toushirou's voice.

"Ran-nee! I heard something!" he stated.

"Yes, you're yelling" she said.

"No! It was Toushirou!"

She grew silent and the smile she had showed a second before disappeared. She wrapped her arms around the kitten and whispered:

"I'm sorry…"

Ichigo wanted to ask more but he stayed silent. In a way, Ran-nee reminded him of his mom, with long orange hair and the big smile. He didn't want to see her sad, so he let her hug him and stayed still.

When the sun went down, the rain had already stopped a few hours ago.

Ichigo walked through the halls looking for Toushirou. He reached the costumer's dining room and it smelled of the white cat's essence, so he went inside.

The place was disordered and smelled strange. There were traces of a meal on the table and he could see a door in the back. Ichigo pushed it and found a dormitory. On the floor laid Toushirou, naked and bruised with a few cuts and blood on his legs. The earlier smell grew stronger.

"Toushirou? Toushirou?"

Ichigo approached the motionless nekobito. He was alive because he could see movement in his chest, indicating he was still breathing. What happened there?

"Toushirou!"

The white cat moved his ears and with great effort opened his eyes. He looked at Ichigo with his big green eyes, which lacked of his usual energy. Ichigo didn't know why, but started to cry.

"Ichigo? Are you okay? Did he… did he hurt you too…?" whispered the white one, caressing his head. Ichigo shook his head in denial.

"That's… good."

Toushirou stopped his caress and looked at his body in disgust. His appearance was the reason for what happened. He closed his eyes and his form changed into a white cat. Ichigo was surprised.

"I never showed this form before, right? I can transform into this."

The cat went to Ichigo and climbed on his shoulder.

"I wish to never be like that again."

"Ichigo? Toushirou? Are you in here?"

It was Rangiku's voice.

"Ran-nee!"

Rangiku saw them and then hugged the two.

"I'm sorry. I didn't expect that he was going to do something like this…," she whispered and they could smell the alcohol on her breath. Toushirou wanted to yell at her, to push her away, but he couldn't. He finally saw the mark on her neck, just behind the ear. She was a prisoner, just like them. "Toushirou… I… you don't want to be in your human form again, right? I can seal you in this form, is you let me."

"Yes."

Rangiku took the white cat in her arms and kissed his head.

"There."

"Just like that?"

"There's only one way to take that seal from you, and I don't think you will like to know it, right?"

The cat didn't respond. After a moment, he jumped from her arms again and onto Ichigo's shoulders.

"I'll set you free, my children. Let's go."

"What are you doing?"

The voice of Grand Fisher roared at their backs. The nekobitos trembled.

"I'm letting them go. You and your master have no right to do what you are doing to them!"

"Shut up, whore!" Grand Fisher kicked her away "Since when have you had the right to questioning my business? Do you want me to sell you to some prostitute's house?"

"Ran-nee!" yelled Ichigo and went to her side.

"Master, I've never gone against your orders, but this… this is too much!" yelled Rangiku and got up. "Ichigo, your mom is waiting for you outside. Go."

"But Ran…"

Rangiku jumped at Grand Fisher and bit him.

"Go!"

"Let's go, Ichigo!" said Toushirou and Ichigo started to run.

"Bitch!"

Rangiku screamed. The mark on her body burned and Grand Fisher kicked her repeatedly, and the sound of broken bones reached the ears of the small cats. Ichigo turned to see the horrendous scene and then blindly ran at Grand Fisher.

"Let her go!" he yelled, digging his nail into Grand Fisher's leg. Toushirou launched a rain of icicles at Grand Fisher, but the man was barely hurt by the attack.

"Rats!" Grand Fisher grabbed Ichigo by the hair and threw him to the ground. Toushirou jumped and scratched the man's face, but one of his hands pulled him off and threw him at the wall. Ichigo got up with difficultly and again attacked the man who was after Rangiku.

"Little piece of shit," Grand Fisher grabbed Ichigo by the neck this time and started to choke him. "I'm going to kill you! Nobody needs a pet that bites his master's hand!"

Grand Fisher was going to hit Ichigo when Rangiku covered him with her body; Grand Fisher punched her repeatedly, yelling at her to get out of the way, to let him kill the little bastard. Finally, the man got tired and stopped. Ichigo felt the dead weight over him and realized that Rangiku was dead.

"Ran-nee?"

Something inside of Ichigo broke then, the crimson blood that painted his robes was all that he could see. Ichigo found himself on four legs and hissing at Grand Fisher. He felt his body burn with hatred, pain, with the necessity to feed his sorrow and silence the cry of his soul.

"Oh, now you think you have enough balls to face me? Come on, then."

He never moved so fast. Everything was moving slowly around him, like in a slow motion movie. He could see Grand Fisher movements and avoid them. His claws were sharper before, and with easy movement, he cut the skin, scarred the muscles, pull apart pieces of the man's body**. **Grand Fisher screamed at this and fell due to having his tendons cut. When he looked up, he saw the nekobito again, but it wasn't the orange cat with brown eyes, instead a white one with yellow eyes looking at him with hatred and killer intent. Ichigo jumped at him and dug his teeth's into his throat, puncturing an artery. He ripped off a piece of meat and spit it away while crimson blood bathed his fur.

***

Crimson. Even when those eyelids were closed, he still remembered that color.

The form of this man was thin and graceful, and easily hid the strength. He remembered how Rangiku sealed his form and wondered: was it really so easy to break that spell? Only to be touched by another kitsune?

Toushirou arranged the cloth over his naked form that Gin gave him the night before. He watched as the fox touched it and it changed into a yukata. Toushirou was surprised how easy the kitsune used his powers. He looked again at Gin with mistrust, that eternal grin was annoying him. He didn't like him, and again, why did he help him last night? Why did he feel this odd sensation when he was near him?

"The shinigami was looking for you," said Gin and Toushirou was brought out of his thoughts.

_Rukia_, he forgot about her…

Toushirou ran to the shrine and found Rukia next to Renji's wounded body, wiping tears out of her eyes. She looked at him and for a moment and she was alarmed. Then his face relaxed.

"Shirou-chan…? Is that you?"

"Yes…" almost hissed and went close to her "What happened?"

"I don't know… I found him like this after I came out of the shrine and I thought it was a hollow's attack, but this wound isn't like that. I also found that blue haired nekobito almost dead with an inu that was already gone."

Toushirou saw the motionless body of Grimmjow lying not far from where Renji and Rukia stayed.

"And Ichigo? Where is he?"

"He was taken by him," replied the kitsune "Aizen is your owner, right? You escaped from him, but he finally found you…"

"I'm owned by nobody," Toushirou said sharply while looking at the kitsune. For some reason, that creature unnerved him and felt him uncomfortable, but oddly enough, something inside him wanted to stay near to the kitsune. Those closed eyelids now were fixed on the markings on his wrist wrist.

Toushirou covered the marks. So, the past was finally catching up with them.

"I need to save him." He finally said.

"What are you going to do?"

"I'll go and confront him!"

"Wait, Toushirou!" called Rukia. "Are you talking about Sosuke Aizen, the expelled shinigami that tried to overthrown the Soul King? You must be crazy! Even the captains couldn't defeat him and only sealed away his Zanpakutou, but his power is still great. You can't leave me with this mess here! The Fourth Squad is about to show up, I think we should wait and go back to Urahara's to see what we can do. Even if Ichigo wasn't expected to be here, Aizen nearly killed Renji for no reason, so Soul Society won't stay arms crossed on this matter, I'm sure."

"This is not a Soul Society matter, Rukia-san. It has always been ours. We need to take care of it," said Toushirou "Ichigo always protected me when we were on the streets and when Urahara-san took us in. I'm sorry about Abarai-san, I never really wanted something to happen to him because Ichigo loves him. I'm really thankful of the times we shared."

Toushirou bowed to his head and ran away.

"Toushirou!"

The white cat ran until his legs gave out again. The green forest started to move in circles around him and he needed to lay down and close his eyes. The sounds of the birds were far, like faded by the beat of his heart.

"Always running like that?" asked the playful tone of the fox over him. How did he get to him that fast? Was he following him? Why?

"Why? Why do you insist on chasing me?"

Toushirou fixed his emerald orbs on Gin's face. The grin faded a little and the kitsune got closer.

"You know that I'm a very annoyed person when my domain is trespassed on? You entered my home, attacked me, and brought trouble. Now you think you can leave just like that, without even paying me for the trouble you caused?"

Gin grabbed Toushirou's marked wrist. He was so dizzy that he only realized what the fox had done when he did other thing.

The kitsune bit the mark and the blood flowed. If he weren't so surprised, Toushirou would have screamed. He simply… stared.

Gin licked the blood that flowed, erasing the numbers made by Aizen. Gin could never be tamed by anyone and no mark or chain could be placed on him.

This little white cat now was going to be his because, even as Rangiku said, this child wasn't the one who died. This one was very alive. (1)

_He's just like him, Gin. Like the baby that died... I saw him in a dream..._

_I can't leave him like that, Gin._

_The voice of Ran was drowsy by the alcohol. She always liked to drink, and Gin did also, but this time she just tried to go into a coma by alcohol poisoning. It wasn't like he didn't feel bad for the child, or didn't even want to get his revenge on the man who caused him so much pain. However, that man was too strong and knew all his tricks, and Ran was too tired from running._

"_I could see him in that dream… when you held me in your arms just like now, after we made love. He had your silver hair… was so beautiful…."_

_Rangiku cried in his chest, ashamed of herself. _

"_Those kid's… I can't leave them alone… they need somebody to love them…"_

_They kept silent for a while. Then, Ran kissed him for the last time._

"_You're free, Gin. Go to your beloved forest, because now my only home is that place."_

***

Vermilion.

Everything was a red color, furious and painful.

The flames were licking the walls, eating them without difficulty, erasing everything that happened there. Yellow and red flames, covered the area and lit up the night like a darkly day.

Ichigo was covered in wet vermilion, looking with empty eyes at the destruction of the place. Toushirou's cat form had snuck onto his shoulder and the blue cat and the stoic dog were watching him and waiting for his decision. Fresh tears ran down the orange cat's cheeks, cleaning the vermilion of his face.

"Brother…"

Ichigo looked at the neon lights of Karakura and walked in that direction.

They clung to life with all the might they had left. They didn't have a reason; they just wanted to live and feel the world and see things that were denied to them. However, they only found rejection, fear or disgust in the eyes of the people they crossed. They became hungry and started to fight for a piece of rotten bread that they found in the garbage, and then Grimmjow yelled at Ichigo that they would be better off as pets to Grand Fisher than dying on the streets.

"If you two had given them what they wanted, we wouldn't be in this shit!"

Ichigo gave him a hard hit with his fist. In his usual calm brown eyes, a yellow glow burned.

"Shut the hell up! You don't even know…!"

"I know that he wanted you two for his personal taste. What's the problem? Suck him and he gives you a warm place to stay. At least we weren't wanted, we could have managed."

Ichigo jumped at him and they started to fight again. The people from nearby yelled at them to keep quiet, but they didn't care. They scratched, bit, and ripped the skin off.

Then, a group of drug addicts appeared, angry with them for ruining the place they obtained with their "taxes" from the people they crossed and got wasted.

The cats stopped their quarrel only to get rid of them. Ichigo, Toushirou, and Ulquiorra had let them go with some minor injuries, but Grimmjow was so pissed that he killed a poor bastard without having any trouble. A red color had drenched his hands, but it wasn't as beautiful like the one that covered Ichigo that day. The kid had glowed then, and Grimmjow was sure that nothing he could ever see can be better than that.

That didn't change the fact that he was angry at the orange cat for putting them on that situation.

Grimmjow searched around the place and found a pipe with drugs. The first time he tried it, he felt his senses go wild, like when having the best orgasm. And the fierce image of Ichigo covered by the vermilion was again in front of him.

Then the hunter came and they got separated. Aizen took them in and he went deeper in his necessity of the drug. He was high for days and would forget what he did during that time. Ulquiorra was always after their master approval and doing everything he asked. He hated that. He hated the dog superior look and the look of pity that sometimes shined in those eyes at him. That dog could never be like Ichigo. He wanted the other cat, not only for a fight, but also for pining him down and make him yell in pleasure, to see the yellows eyes delighted from the blood drenching in his hands, or even see him die in his hands. Something that would show the other cat covered in vermilion again.

Then, he saw the orange cat in the red-head shinigami's arms and he wanted to chop that hand off. It wasn't jealousy; Grimmjow never knew how to feel that way. It was the fact that the cat in the shinigami's arms was not the real one he saw. The real one was inside Ichigo and was the only reason he stayed under Aizen's control. He wanted to touch, see, bite, devour, or be devoured by that creature.

He opened his eyes.

"Oh, he's up! Ken-chan!!!!"

Yachiru was happy. Finally, the pretty blue cat was up! She liked the cat since the first time he was brought to the Seiretei. He smelled like Ichi, like blood, dead and man. She knew that Ken-chan could have a fun time with this one if he tried.

"Blue kitty!"

Yachiru pulled on the cat's ears and Grimmjow slapped the hand away. Who the fuck was this girl? The pink haired child's big eyes looked at him with curiosity. She wasn't annoyed at his aggressive reaction, it was as if she was… happy?

"You smell like Ichi!"

"What the hell are you talking about? Where am I?"

"Soul Society! Ken-chan!!!!"

The enormous frame of Zaraki appeared. Grimmjow didn't flinch at the scary appearance of the bigger man.

"Can I keep him? Can I? I'm sure I can!!!"

Kenpachi Zaraki was a man of simple behavior. He loved to fight, show his strength and let himself be overpowered by the joy of battle. In his own way, he loved the small form of Yachiru. However, having this creature… he couldn't find a reason.

"We don't need this sissy cat."

Grimmjow glared at the man without fear.

"Who the hell are you calling a sissy, freak? I'm sure you are all talk!"

"Oh…" said Yachiru.

"Is that a threat, cat?"

"Of course," Grimmjow flinched at the sudden pain of his injuries.

"Heh. When you recover, we'll see… meanwhile, you can keep him."

"Yay!" squealed Yachiru and hugged the nekobito, who tried to get her away. What had he gotten himself into _this time_?

_**1-**short chapter, I know… I had many things to deal… well; I don't think this couple will get any lemon. 'Cos was already damn hard to deal with the rape scene in the last chapter (I ended crying over my keyboard!) to do something like that again-but it's depends on my mood actually, I know, i'm very volatile-. I think a platonic thing will go well, meanwhile I deal will the rest of the story. I think the end is near, I just need to fix the things up.  
**2-**I looooooooooooove Yachiru! I think I ws just like that in my childhoo (and, think iy, is SCARY!)_


	12. Chapter 11

**Gekkouha  
****_Moonlight flower_**

**_Written by: _****Maru de Kusanagi  
****_Beta read by: _****Persistence**

_Started: November 2, 2009  
__Ended: ¿?  
_**_Disclaimer:_**_ Bleach it's not mine. I wish it was.  
_**_WARNINGS_**_: yaoi, weird pairings, crazy writer. Sorry about the short chapter!!!!_

**CHAPTER 11  
**Momo was annoyed. The image in front of her was far from what she ever expected in her wildest dreams. It started like this:

She got the notice that Rukia had returned to Soul Society with a badly injured Renji. Apparently, the hollows put up an ambush and Renji suffered the worst of it. She knew that Ichigo went with them, because she was the one who helped Rukia to convince Nanao to forge the letter. Where was he? Moreover, what could have happened with Shirou-chan? She didn't see him when Renji was admitted on the Medical Division.

Finally, after Renji was left under the care of the Fourth Squad's hands she could talk to Rukia. The short-haired shinigami explained to her that she couldn't help Renji because she was trapped in a kitsune spell. Renji was attacked by the ex-shinigami, Aizen, who apparently was the original owner of the white and orange nekobito. Everything was a mess, and Rukia was annoyed.

"If he'd explain a little more of what happened," she said and pointed to a very cute nekobito. "Maybe we could understand what is really going on."

Momo blinked. This cute white cat...

"Shirou-chan?" she said to the nekobito and the kid blushed, annoyed by the nickname and her surprised face "You recovered your human form?"

"Yes..." the kid replied uncomfortably.

"Yay," Momo grinned, she was going to jump over him and hug him so hard! He was so beautiful like this... if the other one hadn't stepped in the way.

Another demi-human stopped her before she could even touch Toushirou. It appeared behind the white cat and it looked like him, but his ears and tail were different, and had a mocking grin that unnerved her.

"Who are you?" she asked, annoyed.

The fox ignored her and hugged Toushirou in a very possessive way. THAT was the weirdest thing she had ever seen.

"Gin! Let go! What are you doing?" said Toushirou, unable to stop a blush.

"Gin?"

"This is the fox that lived in the shrine," explained Rukia.

Toushirou finally got free of the kitsune's grasp. "Yes, and he's also a pervert!"

Momo glared at the fox.

"You! Let go of Shirou-chan!" yelled Momo, now angry.

"Fat chance, don't stick your nose where it doesn't belong" snapped the fox, barely opening his eyes but the red shine made Momo freeze. "This cat entered my territory and until he pays me for the trouble he caused, is mine."

"I'm not yours!" shouted Toushirou, raising the cold energy around him. "Who said anything about me paying you anything, and like that?!"

"Quiet all of you!" yelled a nurse "This is a place where sick people recover! Go outside to discuss!"

The group was kicked out of the room and crossed paths with Byakuya and Uryu. Rukia hoped to see her brother later, but the moment of doom came early.

*****

Grimmjow finally got away from Yachiru. He never had to deal with children's "love", so the hyperactive shinigami was something new and extremely annoying to him.

He walked through the halls until he smelled something familiar. Toushirou's essence and it wasn't far.

He saw the black ears and the tail first and recognized the nekobito. Next to him was a tall shinigami with a very uptight look. Toushirou was with two short-haired girls and another with the hair tied up and a silver fox. He licked his lips; this was going to be fun.

"You! Black cat!"

Uryu turned around and flinched. What was he doing here?

"You must be happy, your enemy is gone," said Grimmjow, getting closer.

"Who are you and what are talking about?" asked Byakuya, with his usual cold tone.

"Byakuya-sama..."

"Grimmjow?" said Toushirou. Could this situation get any stranger?

"Oh, so he only took Ichigo in the end?" was all Grimmjow gave "And you must be the fox Aizen talked so much about." he looked at the fox a moment before returning his attention to Uryu "So, black cat, happy now?"

"Answer me" said Byakuya with a frozen shine in his eyes "What are you talking about?"

Even Grimmjow couldn't keep his self-confidence under that tone.

"This black cat was the one who told me about the mission and where it was. I only gave the info to Aizen."

"What?" asked Toushirou.

Byakuya grabbed Grimmjow by the collar "If you appreciate your life, explain yourself."

"As I said, he told me everything," said Grimmjow, holding Byakuya's look "Because he didn't wanted the orange cat near his beloved master."

Byakuya let go of Grimmjow and turned to Uryu. The black cat cast his eyes down along with his ears and his tail waved side to side with anxiety.

"Uryu-kun..." Rukia started to say "Is that true?"

"Uryu" said Byakuya "Look at me"

Uryu didn't comply.

"It's an order."

Uryu flinched under the authoritarian tone of his master's voice and hesitantly lifted his face. His master's cold eyes pierced him.

"Is that the truth?"

"Yes... Byakuya-sama..."

There was a long silence. The group stayed still, admiring the scene. The black cat, deeply in love with his icy master. The master, surprised by the treason.

"Why?"

"Because I love you, master."

_Master._ A term that Uryu never used, and it sounded so heavy.

"And I didn't want that cat to get near you... To take you away from me... I didn't want him to be hurt... Only away..."

Uryu was crying. He closed his eyes when he saw the hand of his master rise. The tears flowed from his eyes while he waited.

A pair of arms circled around him and brought him close to a warm chest.

Byakuya said nothing. He only hugged him, like when he was a small boy, when he was so scared and alone. He only wanted to be keep what he had.

Amazed by this scene, nobody noticed Gin snatching Toushirou away.

*****

"Let go already!"

Gin stopped on a rooftop and finally released his load. The white nekobito wasn't happy. He turned to look at the silver fox, his ears back and the tail rose. It was something more comical than scary.

"Now why did you take me away?"

"I supposed that was an intimate moment?" said Gin, suddenly the mocking absent on his behavior. Surprised, Toushirou found himself speechless and his anger faded. Maybe this fox wasn't so bad…

His tail waved absently side to side.

"And so I can get to know you better!" said Gin, grabbing Toushirou's tail. The cat flinched and felt an electric shock run through his back. In his cat form, it never felt like that!

"Let go...," he whispered. Gin moved his face closer.

"Why? You like it."

Gin hand didn't let go of the tail, and his other hand caressed his back. Toushirou's hands went to Gin's chest.

"I said..."

He was almost breathless.

"What, Shirou-chan?"

Gin's tongue was on his chin moving to his cheek, and tasting him, wet and shameless. Even with the embarrassment painted of red on his face, Toushirou remembered how nice it felt to be touched like that, how nice it was to be desired like that.

"Shirou-chan..."

Aizen voice purred on his ears. _"Tell me what you want... My cute chibi..."_

"Let go!" screamed the cat, pushing Gin away and freezing everything around him. "You... Pervert pedophile!"

"If you are a child, why did you let me touch you in the first place?" asked Gin "At least I don't pretend to be something I'm not. You like to act and be treated like a child, even when you are nothing like that and also say that you are not a kid."

Toushirou didn't answer. The cold crystals shined around him and under the sun. Even when everything was frozen around him, he felt his body burn.

"And by the way, you reacted to my charm back there, I'm sure you're not indifferent to me."

He was right. Since the first time he saw the silver fox under the moon, shinning beautifully, he was amazed by him. He desired him, not like a child wanting a adult's attention. Like a man desiring another man. His now grown body was uncontrollable, screaming at him for touching the other, to kiss him, to posses and let to be possessed. Like when the fox licked his arm and erased the marks made by Aizen.

Those feelings scared him. It made him remember repeatedly what he lived through under Aizen's hands. It made him remember that. Even when he wanted to recover from his childhood, it was long gone. He wasn't a child anymore, even though his body looked like one.

Not to mention, this damn fox was so alluring… he could have given in from the beginning.

"So Toushirou," finally said the fox, crouching in front of him "what are you going to decide?"

Toushirou looked at the fox. The red eyes were fixed on his. When he was about to say something, everything started to tremble.

"What's that? A tremor?"

"No," said Gin, moving his ears and closing again his eyes "It's a portal forced opened."

All the Soul Society trembled and the ground screamed. All the shinigamis got outside, surprised or scared.

"So, he's finally going to try to reach it."

*****

_At LAST! I could finish this chapter, even when is so short, it took me a lot to write it down. I have the end of this story almost done, so don't worry about me letting this down. The thing was, many changes happened in my life in this last two weeks: I changed of job, my old pals made me a goodbye party and now, when I reach my home, get a bath, eat and when I want to write something I'm so tired that I almost fall asleep over the keyboard, 'cos I got up very early on the morning. But I don't complain 'cos is better than the one I had, now I'm at an office and I'm sit almost all day (in the other I was 4 hours stand up and got to endure many stuff), I have a pc and a nice environment (not that I didn't have that in the other, I left many good friends there and I really miss them), so I must say I'm ok._

_BTW, I found a very sweet doujin at **Aarinfanatasy . com **called "**THE LIFE OF LOVERS"**, about inuRenji and nekoIchigo. For what I could understand (it's in japanese), Rukia purchesa a cat for her and a dog for Byakuya and they give the names. Al the story is about how this two fights until they accept that they like each other. Very sweet! You can see the cover and some inner pages on the gallery I have on my profile!_


	13. Chapter 12

**Gekkouha  
_Moonlight flower_**

**_Written by: _Maru de Kusanagi  
_Beta read by: _Persistence**

**_Started: November 2, 2009__  
__Ended: ¿?_**

**_Disclaimer:_**_ Bleach it is not mine. I wish it was.__  
**WARNINGS**__**: **yaoi, weird pairings, crazy writer.__  
**PAIRINGS:**__ mainly Renji/Ichigo, but there's also some Byakuya/Ishida, some Grimmjow/Ulquiorra, Gin/Rangiku (mention), Aizen/Toushirou, Urahara/Ichigo (mention) and Gin/Hitsugaya (yep) and more._

**_RATING: _M**

**_-Terminology for this story-  
_DEMI-HUMAN:** _a half animal person, like the nekobito.  
_**NEKO:**_ 'cat' in Japanese.  
_**NEKOBITO:**_ it means 'cat person', and I made up this one. It's the conjunction of "neko" and "hito" (_person_). The Japanese grammar makes the 'h' change to a 'b' in this.  
_**INUBITO:**_ Dog + person… I don't like how it sounds, so, I don't think I'll be using it too much.  
_**KITSUNE:**_ fox_

**_Note_**_**:** we are almost at the end!_

****=^..^=****

**CHAPTER 12**

Aizen looked down at the creature he had helped create. Nobody had ever achieved something like this before. The orange-headed nekobito was a beautiful masterpiece. When he was a fukutaichou, he tried to reach the Royal Key to sit on the top of the world. His desire was denied and he was cast out from the Soul Society's limits. However, he had the chance to make one last movement before his Zanpakutou was sealed.

He could grab a very important thing and take it with him. Nobody noticed this and he kept on with his new project. He pretended to be defeated and hid his actions behind the mask of a businessman.

He had stolen a soul of the Royal Family, and when he got his fortune, he started to experiment with the demi-humans. Meanwhile, he took the soul and put it inside of a gigai, and created a fake identity for the soul, sealing all the memories of her previous life. Then, he decided to mate his best nekobito with the red haired woman, Masaki Kurosaki. He hoped to create a key from the offspring of this couple, but he never expected the trouble that came after. First, those two police officers who helped Masaki get away. Later, the cub was retrieved and put under Grand Fisher supervision, but when he was going to take it, that stupid fox woman had to interfere. All of his possessions were lost again, along with Masaki and the beautiful albino cat.

But now, finally, he was going to have what he wanted.

"Ichigo…" he said, caressing the unconscious face of the chained cat. "Your time has come."

_Again, in that odd place of his soul, Ichigo watched as memories flowed through his mind through the open door.  
__After killing Grand Fisher, Ichigo was mad. Satisfied by the blood, his dark side roamed through the halls, trying to get out into the light. He could hear the call of familiar voices, but his mind was too hazy that he couldn't recognize them. He only ran, and looked for a way out.  
__A human figure was standing in front of him. It called to him by name, but the blinded nekobito couldn't hear the words filled with love. He stopped and roared to the person blocking his path, showing his teeth. The person called again, and then Ichigo charged. He only charged and made the person fall. Then he bit the neck, and warm blood soon came from the wound.  
_"_Ichigo… is ok now…," said the voice and the taste in his mouth made the young cat freeze. His eyes color changed back to brown and lifted his face to see what he had done.  
_"_Ichigo… it is ok..." the woman below him was smiling softly. Even through so much pain she must have been suffering, her eyes still showed so much love towards him.  
__It was Masaki. His mother.  
__She tried to hug him.  
_"_Mom!" yelled Ichigo, and hot tears blinded him. What had he done?  
__Masaki closed her eyes, her smile never faltering, even with the blood pouring from the wound he made on her neck. Even when her own son had mortally wound her.  
_"_My dear, dear child… I'm sorry for taking so long…." she said, and her arms fell limp at her sides.  
_"_Mom!" yelled Ichigo, now crying hard "No, mom!"  
__However, Masaki wasn't there anymore._

That was the truth. He had killed his mom in his rage.

He was a despicable creature that didn't have the right to love or be loved. Since then, Shirosaki lived inside him, protecting him from his most dangerous monsters.

Ichigo finally woke up.

"Hello my pretty cat. How did you sleep?"

Ichigo frowned. Aizen.

"You remember everything now, don't you?" asked Aizen "I hope everything would turn out fine, because you took a lot of work. Making your mother human, making her mate with my best nekobito, watching her have a healthy baby… are you even aware of how much you cost?"

"What...?" asked Ichigo.

"I think you don't know this so allow me to explain. Your mother was a soul that I stole from the Royal Family. I put her in a gigai and made her believe she was a human, which was attacked by a rapist and suddenly saved by a nekobito in heat. She watched the nekobito be killed by the police and when I was going to grab her, she escaped with the unborn child in her womb. So, I had to wait seven years to finally find you in Gekkouha."

Aizen walked next to him and grabbed his face.

"You are a tool, cat, nothing more."

"I'm not an object!" roared Ichigo, trying to get free. Aizen snapped his fingers and the mark on Ichigo's arms burned. The nekobito yelled and his body felt so sore.

"Oh, then you prefer be called 'a forbidden conception'? Or murderer?"

Ichigo's eyes flashed golden, and Aizen only smiled.

"You decided then, remember? You could have escaped, but decided to come with me in exchange of the life of the shinigami."

"Bastard…"

"I really don't like to get my hands dirty, but I'll do whatever I need to achieve my wish. Your blood is what I need, so get ready, dear cat: your main event is about to begin."

****=^..^=****

"Portal?" said Toushirou, looking at Gin. His usual smiled had disappeared.

"Aizen's greatest desire: to reach the top of the world. Didn't you knew? Your little brother only reason of existence was to be a door to the Royal Dimension."

"What are you talking about?"

Gin mask was again up. He turned to Toushirou.

"Why don't you ask to your friend, hat and clogs?" and then he transfigured on the silver fox frame and ran away.

"Gin! Stop!"

Damn fox, what he was up to now???

Gin wasn't a person who felt insecure or doubtful. He did what he wanted, let the weak die and the strong live. He took what he wanted when he wanted. Then, why did this cat make him so uneasy?

It wasn't because of Ran. She knew him, and his habits. Even when he loved her, he still couldn't avoid jumping after those who were attracted him. Ran accepted him like that.

But this damn cat made him feel strange. Like regretful. If he had pushed then, he could have taken Toushirou that night he met him for the first time in the shrine. But he didn't. He let him sleep and watched his beautiful frame rest. He caressed the silky fur and the porcelain skin. He inhaled his breath. He only observed, until those emerald eyes opened.

Those green watery eyes, full of life and braveness… inside him, he wanted to take them and only let them concentrate on him. When he saw the expression in those eyes at the time they spoke about the orange-haired nekobito, he felt anger. He just wanted to let that cat disappear, and if Aizen got him, better. He had enough with that man to be now crossing paths again.

But, Aizen dared to touch this kid he now wanted to so much. That made him angry, even though he wouldn't face him about it. He knew Aizen antics. He even erased the mark Aizen put in him, because he only wanted Toushirou for himself. He didn't know, but the mark of a kitsune was invisible and at the same time inerasable. Toushirou was his, even though he didn't accept it yet. Nobody else will have the privilege to touch him.

But he himself was another thing.

A flash of golden caught his attention. He stopped and looked at a blonde shinigami saying goodbye to another black haired one, with some marks on his face and sleeveless uniform. He saw the look of resignation and desire on the blue eyes of the blonde-haired man. Gin lifted his ears and tail. This was going to be fun.

Jumping to the ground, Gin returned to his human form. The surprised look in Kira's eyes was delicious.

"Good evening." Said Gin in his playful tone.

Kira recovered his posture and looked at the demi-human. He hadn't dealt with many of them; he only talked with Ichigo the time Renji brought him to the bar. In addition, this one made him feel nervous, that grin and closed eyes announced nothing good.

"Hello" said Kira "May I help you?"

"Indeed." Said Gin, getting close to the blonde. "What's your name?"

"Kira Izuru. And you?"

"Gin."

_Like the color_, (**1**) found Kira himself thinking. _What?_ He had to be careful. This fox was too alluring.

"Izuru-kun" Gin tasted the name in his tongue "Are you busy?"

"I need to go to see my captain about these strange tremors…"

"But I suppose you need to get change, first?"

Why did this creature make him feel like this? Gin got closer to Kira and all the shinigami could feel was the desire that emanated from the fox. His breath became suddenly labored, his heart raced fast in his chest, like the time when he could hold an oblivious Shuuhei on his arms. H**e **had, many times, put aside his feelings so he could go ahead on his daily basis, but every time he met Shuuhei, his heart raced fast. He always tried to stay away from the older shinigami so his body's reactions wouldn't give him away, but many of his friends already discovered them and said that he should do something. Even Momo, when she saw that Renji finally fallen for the orange cat, said that he should give it a try. However, Shuuhei eyes still went after the red headed ones frame, and that hurt him.

How he ended in his bed with the silver fox? A part of him decided to forget that, and to only remember the caresses, the kisses and the pleasure this devilish creature gave to him. He just wanted to be drown in pleasure, to forget for a moment that he was desperately in love with a man that didn't even registered him like a possible lover, and the one that now caressed him and made love to him was the one he wanted.

Gin tongue licked his erection and then his mouth sucked it with shamefulness desire. This was easier than he thought, maybe all the frustration this shinigami had made him so vulnerable to his charm. The blonde boy covered his mouth when his fingers also caressed below, looking for the entrance. Soon, after sucking hard the hot flesh, Kira came on the fox mouth. Gin got up and cleaned his mouth with the back of his hand. He saw Kira do some contorted movements and then he realized what was happening.

Kira was crying.

For some reason the tears came out of his eyes. Kira felt so dirty. He never engaged in casual sex before, but he knew how dirty it could be, and never expected that, in place of giving him some release, it gave him so much shame. Why did he feel like he was betraying himself? It wasn't like he never had sex before, but still…

"First time, Izuru-kun?"

Kira dried the tears away and forced himself to look back at Gin.

"I have done it before…"

"But with a male?"

Kira was silent and looked away. Gin chuckled and got up, and moved forward to kiss Kira's throat.

"Let yourself enjoy this, Izuru-kun." The fox breath made Kira's hot skin have goose bumps. The fox bit his earlobe hard, making him bleed and sucked on the liquid. Kira arms wrapped around Gin's body, and closed his eyes again.

****=^..^=****

Toushirou felt uncomfortable with the departure of the fox, but he wasn't going after him. He wasn't a dog running after his master. A new tremor made Soul Society move. He decided to go see Urahara.

"Urahara!"

"So, you're back," said Yoruichi to Toushirou. "Indeed, you're cute like that."

Toushirou blushed and decided to ask.

"Is Urahara here?"

"Yes, go on."

Toushirou went inside the shop, and found Urahara sitting and sipping his tea, like usual.

Another tremor shook everything and the nekobito sat in front of him.

"Tell me what you know."

Only one eye was visible under the shadow of Urahara's hat, and it wasn't shinning with his usual playfulness. Toushirou waited for the man put his cup aside and look straight at him.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!"

"A long time ago, I was a shinigami captain and met a very bright and very dangerous shinigami named Sosuke Aizen. He had one of the sharpest and compassionless minds I've ever crossed. He tried to overthrow the Soul King but his plan was discovered and was exiled, with his Zanpakutou sealed away. Only then did we discover that he stole the soul of a very important person and it with him. So, I was sent to Karakura to keep an eye on him and his actions. For a long time, he didn't do anything in particular or dangerous; only build on his name and a fortune in the outside world. Only when he got enough power and money, he started his Gekkouha project, his research on demi-humans. But I was too late and careless, and the damage was already done when I found you both."

"What damage?"

"I mean Ichigo's mother, Masaki. She was the soul Aizen stole. I found her after Ichigo was taken away from her and she asked me for help. But before I could make my move, Aizen made his and then the tragedy of that time occurred."

A shiver ran through Toushirou. Aizen's "move" was when he decided to take him.

"And Gin? You know of him, right?"

"The silver fox that runs in the moonlight (2)… Aizen has some fetish with silver haired ones… that's why he desired you and marked you. He first experiment with him and Rangiku, but I discovered that he caused their baby die. That's why Gin left Aizen side, but Rangiku didn't. She wanted to protect the cubs that were still in Grand Fisher's hands: Grimmjow, Ulquiorra, Ichigo and you. I had the chance to speak once with her, and she told me you reminded her of the baby she saw in a dream."

Toushirou felt tears threatening to fall. He resisted. So, Ran stayed behind for them… that's why Gin was alone…

"When I found you both I made sure that Ichigo's darker side was sealed and your energy was put to a minimum with that collar. Ichigo was willing to forget all that happened in the incident and it made it easier. So, I simulated that I raised the nekobito for special services when I was actually keeping an eye on you both. But I never expected to fall for him."

"You wanted Ichigo to fall for you or Byakuya, right? Because he was stronger than Renji?"

Urahara sighed. Seriousness wasn't usual for him.

"Yeah."

"But… you said Ichigo's mom was a member of the Royal Family… what does Aizen want with him?"

"His reiatsu. You remember that the mixed breed creates an offspring with a usual high reiatsu, right? And what do you think it will come out if the mother was a member of the Royal Family, a person that itself had an enormous reiatsu? Do you remember how Ichigo's reiatsu was the first time he released his dark side?

Of course he did. It was an unstoppable force and overwhelming. Not to mention, it wasn't at his highest level.

"With such energy, Aizen is capable of creating something that usually would take 100,000 souls. A door to the Royal Dimension."

Toushirou swallowed.

"And Ichi will die."

"Not only him. Whenever Aizen creates the portal, a significant area around it will suffer the consequences."

Toushirou stayed silent. This was too much. Who would expect something like this?

"Toushirou," called Urahara for his attention again "the Sou- Taicho, Yamamoto, knows this. And he will do what is necessary to avoid Aizen achieving his goal, do you understand that? He will kill Ichigo if that's necessary."

Toushirou's eyes widen with shock.

"But we still have a little time. If we want to save Ichigo, we'll need to put our hands into it now."

"Ok."

There was no time to lose. He went running back to the fourth Squad barracks and there he found Rukia next to Renji's bed. The male shinigami had just woken up.

"Shirou-chan!" said Rukia.

"I need your help. Ichi will die if you don't help me."

****=^..^=****

_**1**-"GIN IRO" (_銀色_) is the Japanese for the color silver, so, "gin" can be considered a short for it. The thing is, Gin's name is written originally in katakana (_ギン_)__, vocabulary that's only used to represent sounds but had no actual meanings. BTW, for some reason I don't end liking Kira… every time I think of him, I remember his look when Gin goes for him at the jail after he fought with Momo and I only want to kick him… sorry if Kira fans are mad at me for saying this. However, I got the idea of a possible liking of Kira and Shuuhei from the fourth ending of Bleach, "Happy people", where we could see Shuuhei giving a inviting smile to Kira (nyah!)._

_**2**-__there's a fic called "_**the silver fox that runs through the snow**_" written by _**7dragons**7_. It could be found in here at **FF . NET** , it's a good story._


	14. Chapter 13

**Gekkouha  
**_**Moonlight flower**_

_**Written by: **_**Maru de Kusanagi  
**_**Beta read by: **_**Persistence**

_Started: November 2, 2009  
Ended: ¿?_

_**Disclaimer:**__ Bleach it's not mine. I wish it was.  
__**WARNINGS**__: yaoi, weird pairings, crazy writer. Character death (again…)  
__**PAIRINGS:**__ mainly Renji/Ichigo, but there's also some Byakuya/Ishida, some Grimjow/Ulquiorra, Gin/Rangiku (mention), Aizen/Toushirou, Urahara/Ichigo (mention) and Gin/Hitsugaya (yep) and more._

_**RATING:**_M

_**-Terminology for this story-  
**_**DEMI-HUMAN:** _a half animal person, like the nekobito.  
_**NEKO:**_ 'cat' in Japanese.  
_**NEKOBITO:**_ it means 'cat person', and I made up this one. It's the conjunction of "neko" and "hito" (_person_). The Japanese grammar makes the 'h' change to a 'b' in this.  
_**INUBITO:**_ Dog + person… I don't like how it sounds, so, I don't think I'll be using it too much.  
_**KITSUNE:**_ fox  
__**Note:**__ well, definition time came. Now, the couples must to decide to keep on what they have or try to came with something new. The final moments of this story came at last!_

******=^..^=******

**CHAPTER 13**

The fox wasn't there when Kira opened his eyes. His naked thin body displayed the marks left by the afternoon adventure he had. Damn, he felt so tired… Kira had almost forgotten that feeling. He sat on the messy sheets. Of course, the fox wasn't there; it was the type of person who got what he wanted and then left. And yet, he didn't have any negative feelings towards him, after all, he let himself be trapped and used.

He ran his hand through his blonde hair and then got up. It took a lot of endurance to stand and to reach the bathroom. There, he washed and hid the hickeys the best he could and other traces his sexual adventure left.

It was already night when he stepped on the streets. Hisagi just was passing to see how he was, because he got the notice that Kira had missed the meeting and nobody knew where he was. Well, actually, somebody told him they heard weird noises coming from Kira's place, but nobody dared to sneak in. So then, the shinigami of spiky black hair and marked face went to his friends place to take a look. He found Kira at the door.

"Kira!"

Kira looked at him like he had seen a ghost. First, the clear blue eyes showed a shocked expression and later the shock turned into regret. He lowered his eyes and didn't look at Shuuhei who was standing in front of him.

"Is everything ok?"

Kira shrug his shoulders, like nothing was wrong.

"Yeah, why?"

"Because, knowing how responsible you are, I can't believe everything is just fine when you miss a meeting without a word." The brunette stated sharply "Now, tell me."

"What the hell you want me to tell you?" was all Kira could say, still not looking at Shuuhei's face.

"Huh?"

Kira had it. This had been too much. If the adventure he had with the fox showed him anything, it was that he's hopelessly in love with this other man, and he was like a lost puppy, following him around and looking how the other's attention was on Renji.

"You came here demanding answers, why?"

"Why?" was the first thing Shuuhei could say, "What's wrong with you? Aren't we friends? It's normal for friends to care for one another." Shuuhei was perplexed by the behavior of the blond that was usually so composed and in place. Then he saw something on his neck: a bruise? And on the earlobe, a small wound… like… a bite...?

Was Kira assaulted? No. It was impossible, even when Kira looked so fragile; he was perfectly able of taking care of himself. Then what was it? Maybe he had a lover and he was troublesome?

A sad laugh came from Kira's lips, and then he looked at Shuuhei's.

"I suppose… but I don't know anymore."

There was so much sadness in his voice… Kira, after all, was a very lonely man. And when he found himself in love with this other shinigami; he simply didn't know what to do with his feeling, so he decided to push them away, deep inside him, into his core. However, things like that… how long can one hide and keep them at bay?

"Did you… did you have a fight?" Shuuhei didn't know how to ask it properly. "You know… with your… other…"

Kira blinked. What was Shuuhei talking about? Then he realized it: he must have seen the marks on his body.

"No. I just had some fun."

"Then why are you all depressed? Why weren't you at the meeting? Is worthy of it?"

"Who knows…" Kira started to walk away "Say, Hisagi."

"What?"

"Have you ever realized that I love you?"

Shuuhei was speechless. Kira turned to look at him, and smiled sadly.

"Well, I should have known. You always are after Renji's shadow, never looking around… but Renji has somebody now. And I'm here."

Shuuhei let the declaration sink in. Now he saw how oblivious he was to his blonde friend's actions. Hell, even when is your friend, how many times a friend carries you around drunk and never got angry at you? And what could he say then? I'm sorry? And for what? It wasn't like he deliberately made Kira fall for him, and, besides, he still wanted Renji…

"I'm..."

"If you say _I'm sorry_, I swear I kill you."

"Then what?"

"At least," Kira now got closer and looked him straight into the eyes "give me a chance."

Shuuhei sighed.

"All right."

******=^..^=******

They needed to move fast. Urahara was going to buy some time for them, avoiding the shinigami movements for a few more hours, but they didn't have time to waste. Renji determined face was all the encouragement he needed to proceed. Even in his still convalescent state, he got up, put his uniform on, took Zabimaru and raced off. Rukia was (of course) with them. And the silver fox too.

Toushirou was worried about the fox. When the shinigamis noticed that the mess was caused by a demi-human, things were going to get ugly, like the time they called the hunter to finish them. This time, all of Soul Society was after their asses and any one else with pointy ears and tails. He waited for him on the rooftop of the Medical Division, and when the moon showed, the fox did too.

"So, you got back." Toushirou observed, and then he realized that the fox looked oddly satisfied. His smell was different…

He smelled of somebody else's scent, and jealousy roamed through Toushirou's heart. Gin changed his form to human.

"You sense it, right?" Gin asked, his hand hovering near Toushirou face's, almost touching his nose "Yeah, I smell of somebody else. I have needs, you know."

Yes, Toushirou's mind understood that, yet, his heart ached and screamed. Why did he feel so heartbroken? Had he really fallen so easily?

"Do what you want, what do I care?" said Toushirou, stubbornly. He was about to leave, when Gin's grip on his arm made him turn and a pair of lips caught his mouth. The long fingers of the other's hand held his face because of the differences of height, it was necessary. Toushirou was surprised and when he tried to pull free, Gin bit his lower lip and made him moan. When he opened his mouth, the older man let his tongue slide inside and then Toushirou felt like he was choking. Even though he wanted to be free and run, his legs soon abandoned him, so he had to clutch onto Gin's robes to stand. His legs trembled, weak.

He loved this hateful creature.

Then, Gin released him.

"Want to erase it?" said Gin, looking the drunken look on Toushirou's eyes, and caressing the soft lips "Don't you want it to clean it out and change it for your own?"

Toushirou's hand then moved up, to grab the hand that hold his face.

"Yes, but now, we don't have the time for that." He said and kissed the long fingers. "Let's make a deal: if you help in this, I'll let you have me."

Gin removed his hand, like it was disgusted by the contact. He looked hard at Toushirou.

"Now, what did you hear? That man, what did he tell you?"

Toushirou was shocked by the sudden change in Gin. Wasn't that what he wanted? Why did he get so angry? And what if he now knew the reason for Gin's solitude?

"He told me about you and Rangiku. About… the baby…"

"He knows nothing" said Gin, and grabbed the small frame of Toushirou by the shoulders, digging hard his fingers into the flesh. The white cat flinched in pain. "And you know nothing; so, don't try to show pity on me."

"Gin… I just want…"

"What?"

Toushirou closed his eyes, in his mind the words were hard to put together. This was hard. He wanted to help the silver fox. He wanted to learn more about him, and doing so, learn about himself. He never felt something like that for another person, he didn't know how to be in love… for a while, he believed that he loved Momo in that way, but that infatuation was nothing in comparison to what he felt now for Gin. How simple it was, really… to fall in love… but '_loving_' was something different.

Especially when you loved a creature like Gin.

"I want to understand."

Gin took his hand from Toushirou's trembling shoulders, some fingers caressed absently where they hurt the most, and the nekobito had a warm feeling by that simple act. He looked at the fox, and those crimson orbs were open, looking at him with some unreadable emotion.

"This stuff doesn't need to be understood. It needs to be felt."

Toushirou knew he was in Gin's palm, under his control if he let it proceed. This was his last chance to get away from it. And he didn't care anymore.

"I do feel it."

Gin's eyes closed again and the Cheshire smile mask was up again.

"Then, aren't we doing some kind of rescue? I'm sure they must be impatient for our delay."

Toushirou showed the way.

"You know, I'll make you keep your word." Said Gin, like passing by.

"And I'll remain true to it." answered the white cat, without doubts. **(1)**

They reached the outskirts of Soul Society, where Rukia and Renji waited for them.

"At last." Said Renji, looking at the two white creatures with annoyance.

"Sorry, but some things had to be cleared out." Said Toushirou to the angry shinigami. "Where's Aizen lair?"

"_Las Noches_ " pointed Rukia to a great manor not far away from where they stood.

"Let's go then. The others won't give us extra time."

******=^..^=******

_Las Noches_ was a big manor; built in a Japanese castle style. Aizen took his most interesting "creations" there, some to warm up his bed, others to be test subjects. This was where Ichigo's father was born and where Masaki fake identity was created. Tousen was the only other permanent resident in the place, the shinigami who fell with him so long ago. This was also the place where Gin and Rangiku grew up. The security of _Las Noches_ was somewhat lax, you could say, because anyone could get in. Getting out was the tricky part, like many of the demi-humans found out when they tried to escape from Aizen's grasps.

Aizen had taken Ichigo out of his cell to the _sanctuary_, as he liked to call it. It was a place in the middle of the main building, where strange patterns decorated the walls and the roof. On the floor, a big circle surrounded by scriptures and more patterns decorated the room. Ichigo rested in the middle of the circle, and Aizen was sitting next to him.

"Aizen-sama" Tousen's calm voice called for him.

"Yes."

"Some intruders entered the perimeter"

Aizen absently caressed Ichigo's hair. The cat was unconscious, even though he was delighted to hear his screams that would make this whole procedure longer, but now wasting time wasn't a wise thing to do.

"So, they are here."

"But is odd. Only four people…"

Then Aizen looked at his blind servant.

"Oh, really?" Aizen felt the shinigamis reiatsu, Toushirou's presence and Gin's energy. "Who would have guessed? A rescue team? Tousen, you know what to do."

"Yes, master."

Tousen left the room and Aizen was again alone with Ichigo. It was almost a shame to lose such a fine creature, but well, sacrifices were needed. And maybe, if he felt like it, he could have his two silver creatures, the kitsune and the nekobito. But if not, he could always create a new pet to enjoy himself.

Aizen got up and a kekkai surrounded Ichigo. He started to perform the ritual, absently to the rest of the world. This was something that didn't need to be delayed.

The group landed on the soft grass and analyzed the area. No guards or tricks. How Aizen could be so careless when everybody knew his plans?

"He hasn't changed a bit," said Gin "Always so confident."

"Ichigo's there" said Renji. He wasn't the best at following reiatsu, but could feel the energy mark Ichigo carved in his heart and he was going to retrieved him.

Then, several energies emerged around the group. Hollows.

"I knew this wasn't going to be so easy." Rukia said and pulled her Zanpakutou out.

"Damn, we don't have time to lose with these pieces of shit!" roared Renji, yanking Zabimaru around.

Toushirou called forth his cold power and the ice crystals shined down in the moon's glow, freezing several hollows.

"You are getting better at this" complimented Gin, dispatching other hollows. Toushirou blushed at his words. "These are piece of cake. He only wants us to waste time here. Hey, shinigamis."

"What?!" Renji asked, annoyed and killing another group of hollows.

"Go on. Me and Shirou-chan can take care of this."

"It's TOUSHIROU!" yelled the nekobito, almost slipping on the ice he made himself. He controlled himself and said, still annoyed "But he's right. Go on, Renji, Rukia."

The two shinigamis nodded to them with gratitude and kept going. The fox took the cat's hand in his and the couple looked at the monsters roaming around them.

"This is good, you know"

"Yeah? Why is that?"

"You can get all the anger you have accumulated inside and let it free in this situation. Give it a try, Toushirou."

Toushirou's body shinned with cold energy. It was the first time the kitsune called him by his name, and that made him somewhat proud. He squeezed Gin's hand.

"I will."

Then they let go.

The two shinigamis flash stepped to the front door of the main building. A new tremor made the ground move, this time it felt stronger than the previous.

Kaname Tousen opened the door and looked at them with his dead eyes.

"I can't let you pass."

Rukia and Renji moved into a fighting stance.

"And what are you gonna do about it?" asked Renji, and Tousen didn't even flinched at his words.

"I'm a man who despise bloodshed, but if it is needed, I will kill those who stand against the master desire's." Tousen, unlike Aizen, still had his Zanpakutou. Rukia stood in front of the ex shinigami.

"Ok then, if you want to fight, fight me." She said and indicated Renji with a move of her head to go on. The other went forward.

"Don't die." He said.

"Same goes for you." she replied quickly.

"Don't think I'll be soft on you because you're a woman."

"I won't ask for less, but I'm curious, why didn't you stop Renji, if you said all that crap?"

"If the four of you went to confront master Aizen, maybe you would have stood a chance. However by going alone, nothing can be achieved, beside death."

Rukia gulped. She was worried about Renji, but if she wanted to help him, she needed to defeat Tousen first. Then, she felt it.

Power. Enormous, delightful, intoxicating. All his being, his soul, was burning in power, drowning in it. It felt like when his dark side roamed free, but multiplied by a thousand times. It felt so great, so high, that Ichigo couldn't avoid it, didn't wanted it to stop. He forgot his name, his race, his origin and only let the power feed him, in a way he didn't know where the power ended and where his soul started.

There was no Ichigo or Shirosaki now, only an instinct being, asking for release, calling for more power, roaring at his cage. Aizen marveled at the amount of reiatsu that shinned inside of the kekkai; this was more magnificent than what he expected. The creature's fur was of the purest white color he have ever seen, the golden eyes were flashing inside a dark orb, the ears had changed into long horns, the arms and legs into paws with long claws and the tail that was long and pointy. Long fangs appeared from the lips and the human's characteristics from the face were gone, muted in the shape of a lion head. On four legs, the creature stood up and roared again, and when it lowered its head, looked at Aizen with nothing more than hatred. Wonderful creature.

"Sosuke Aizen." Called Renji and the ex shinigami turned around to Renji.

"You came. Good, so you can now see the true nature of the nekobito." Said Aizen and caught Zabimaru's blade with a hand, like when they confronted the previous night. "Well, a man of action, like always." Aizen let go of Zabimaru, and Renji called it back "But you must remember that I'm not an easy prey."

Zabimaru's blade couldn't cut Aizen, no matter how many times he wiped the blade at him. The rejection of Aizen reiatsu made Renji's body suffer the consequences (**2**). His hands started to get slippery because of the blood, but even then, Renji grabbed the hilt of Zabimaru. His body was still recovering from the previous wounds and it hurt, his breath was short and his limbs started to get numb. Damn. The sweat ran down his face and Aizen was there, smiling.

Ichigo howled and trashed inside the kekkai.

"It is almost time," said Aizen "Show yourself, flower of the moonlight, the true nature of the demi-human."

The energy surpassed the kekkai and destroyed it. The reiatsu was so overwhelming that Renji couldn't stand and need to maintain his posture with Zabimaru's help. He saw the creature set foot on the ground and walk soundlessly. Aizen called for its attention, but Renji senses were so clouded that he couldn't hear anything more than the sound of his pulse. The creature stopped in front of Aizen and the man lifted his hand to touch it.

_Don't. _

_Don't let him touch you…_

_Ichigo._

The words couldn't come out of his mouth but it was like they didn't need to. The creature-, no, Ichigo, Renji was sure that Ichigo was still there- looked beyond Aizen, directly into Renji's eyes. The flashing golden orbs looked at him for a second, and the expression in them changed.

Love.

When Aizen's hand touched Ichigo's head, the animal moved its head to the side, like giving into the caress. Then, when Aizen was sure of his dominance, Ichigo ripped the hand that touched him. Aizen was speechless, but didn't have much time to recover. The creature attacked again, this time at his neck. The spectacle was so horrendous that Renji, a man raised in Inuzuru, and that made war his daily living, need to look away. Yeah, when he saw what hollows did to their victims, his blood also went cold. No honor was in a death like that.

How long it took, he didn't know. He opened his eyes again when he felt the breath of the creature in front of him and the metallic smell of blood. He looked up and saw Ichigo.

"Ichigo…"

Somehow, the beast face relaxed and with his nose caressed Renji. The energy slowly was getting lower, but the extreme level still had Renji dizzy. Ichigo in this form acted more like a wild cat than the boy he knew. He lifted a hand with some difficult and then touched its head, in the middle of the horns. Ichigo purred, closing his eyes. Renji smiled.

"It's you." Renji let go of Zabimaru and hugged the animal. "I'm sorry I took so long…"

Somehow, Ichigo was still there, and remembered him. And Renji was still in love with this creature.

They fell to the ground, suddenly tired. Ichigo's head rested on Renji's lap. One problem solved, a new one was in the horizon: Was Ichigo going to stay like that?

A sudden flash and a mark shined on Ichigo's body, like a butterfly. A small woman was now in front of them. Soi Fon.

"You…"

Ichigo howled in pain. He got up and yelled, but in a few seconds, crumbled to the ground.

"Ichigo!"

"Mission completed."

******=^..^=******

_**1-**__damn. Why when I start this type of situations, they finish like that? I try to not get too philosophic, but hell… I always try to realize what love nature is…  
__**2-**__I did this remembering the fight of Ichigo and Zaraki. Zangetsu, even when it did hit Zaraki's body, didn't cut him and Ichigo was the one who received the wound.  
__**3-**__this was another hard chapter to write… especially because is the climax and it's hard to do it fine. Next is the conclusion and a short epilogue comes afterwards._


	15. INTERMEZZO 2

**Gekkouha  
_Moonlight flower_**

**_Written by: _Maru de Kusanagi  
_Beta read by: _Persistence –_love you forever_ –**

**_Started:_**_ November 2, 2009_

**_Ended:_**_ April 2010__  
_

**_Disclaimer:_**_ Bleach it's not mine. I wish it were. I do this only for play.__  
**WARNINGS**__**: **yaoi, weird pairings, crazy writer.__  
**PAIRINGS:**__ mainly Renji/Ichigo, but there's also some Byakuya/Ishida, some Grimmjow/Ulquiorra, Gin/Rangiku (mention), Aizen/Toushirou (forced), Urahara/Ichigo (unrequited) and Gin/Hitsugaya (yep) and more._

**_RATING: _**M

**_-Terminology for this story-  
_**DEMI-HUMAN: _a half animal person, like the nekobito.  
_NEKO:_ 'cat' in Japanese.  
_NEKOBITO:_ it means 'cat person', and I made up this one. It's the conjunction of "neko" and "hito" (_person_). The Japanese grammar makes the 'h' change to a 'b' in this.  
_INUBITO:_ Dog + person… I don't like how it sounds, so, I don't think I'll be using it too much.  
_KITSUNE:_ fox_

**_Note:_**_ well, actually this wasn't to be written. But I found out that the connection with the next chapter would be hard to understand and I should write it again to arrange it (and I don't wanna do it), so, a short report to explain (I hope) the mess I did in the previous chapter. Enjoy._

****=^..^=****

**INTERMMEZZO 2: _Urahara's report_**

Case file: shadow cat (1)**  
**Entry number: XXXX-XXXX  
Date: XX/XX/XXXX

This is the last report about this case. I already sent a memo to my superiors about this notice. While being a shinigami when time is something that has no meaning, this mission has taken a toll on me**.** I don't trust myself to carry on with this matter, and how this situation evolved; I don't think it will go on longer.

As the previous reports declare, this matter was assigned to Yoruichi and me forty years ago, when the disappearance of the princess's soul was discovered. The trail went cold for many years, until the incident in the park with a orange cat happened. The princess soul was found inside a gigai and was pregnant with a nekobito. It was decided that the best procedure was to not approach her, but wait for the child to be born and keep an eye on its development. Aizen's hand in the matter was finally discovered when was too late, and the princess died. Finding the child was surprisingly hard until a hunters request came up, and we could retrieve Ichigo and Toushirou.

We were ordered to raise and take care of them until a decision about their fate was taken. After all, Ichigo was the child of a murderer and a forbidden conception, only to grow up to become his own mother's killer. However, he was also the son of a royal Family member, and the word from the higher asked for mercy and the child was given one last chance for redemption. I was ordered to guide and protect them, something that I have failed to achieve.

The nekobito, also known as demi-human, aren't just creatures of unique appearance. They also have a unique and an extremely dangerous nature that is usually under control. Most people know the inubito as a timid and very obedient beings, but the legends of demon dogs are not only fairy tales. Long time ago, all the pure breed of that race were exterminated, and only those with mixed blood were allowed to live, law that still today is obeyed. The same with the kitsune, and the nekobito. Those creatures, the demi-humans, were also called moonlight flowers.

The night which Aizen passed on for the better, I tried to gain some time for the group so Ichigo wouldn't be killed, after all, what Aizen made him do wasn't his fault. However, the meeting was shortly terminated and the shinigami sent Captain Soi Fon who was known by her tidy work. A true moonlight flower was released.

The group found several obstacles in their infiltration on Las Noches, and in order to surpass them, they had to split up. Toushirou and Gin, the kitsune they found in the abandoned shrine, faced the hollows in the garden. Rukia and Renji later split so Renji could face Aizen.

Yoruichi and I met with the kitsune and the nekobito one hour later of their infiltration, when they were assisted by Captain Kuchiki, who dispatched the hollows without efforts. Then, the overwhelming reiatsu of the released from Ichigo covered the area, and we discovered that we were too late. However, Toushirou, being the faithful brother he had been to Ichigo all these years, tried to go to help him, but was stopped by a kido that was casted by captain Kuchiki. I felt the reiatsu of many other shinigamis in the area, and no more explanation was needed. They were going to eliminate the threat. We went further, turning the custody of the demi-human couple over to the captain.

Rukia Kuchiki had a hard time facing Kaname Tousen, Aizen's right hand. He was a man who despised bloodshed, but even so, faced with ferocity his adversaries, but seeing him surrounded and surpassed in number, accepted his defeat.

A final explosion of reiatsu was felt and then I thought that the end was coming. However, just after that, Aizen reiatsu faded away, but Renji was still there, barely perceptible behind the reiatsu of Ichigo. Yoruichi tried to reach the place before Soi Fon, but the energy waves affected our capacities, so we reached the room to see how she put her mark on Ichigo's body, a purple butterfly that sealed his fate**. **Renji was disoriented by the situation and only mumbled to himself before falling to the floor. All his efforts were in vain. Even though no tears fell from his eyes, the pain that he was suffering was palpable. He let himself to be taken to jail of his squad with uncommon quietness, Rukia and the demi-humans met the same fate. Ichigo's body was taken to the lab, but since I complained that he was my research, captain Kurotsuchi couldn't do anything about it, and head captain Yamamoto requested that the body be destroyed. So it was done.

Toushirou and Gin were released because they didn't show any actual threat and their status as demi-humans made them exempt to the laws. Even though Gin was a servant of Aizen in the past, the proofs showed that present action had no relations with him.

Kaname Tousen was condemned to die on the Sokyoku. His execution will be tomorrow.

Another matter was Grimmjow, the blue cat that was found in the shrine wounded and was Aizen's property. He was a very troublesome creature, disobedient and impatient, and also suffered a serious addiction to illegal substances. He was first taken to Fourth Squad to recover his physical wounds that were discovered by Yachiru Kusajishi, lieutenant of squad eleven. Well, everybody knows the behavior of this particular person, and for some reason she decided to take Grimmjow as a pet. So, since lieutenant Kusajishi asked, and Grimmjow had some crossed words with Zaraki Taichou. After much deliberation, the blue cat was left under their care, especially since keeping him in the Fourth Squads barracks was nearly impossible. His addiction to drugs will be healed.

Lieutenant Abarai destiny first showed almost as dark as the one his lover had. In first stance, it was requested his expulsion and to be judged for treason, but the sudden support of his captain saved him from that fate. He had to stay six months in jail and some more time suspended of duty, without his rights as lieutenant. Kuchiki Rukia was also incarcerated and suspended, but her punishment was less harsh.

With this, I declare this report concluded.

**URAHARA KISUKE  
****_Soul Society  
_****_XX/XX/XXXX_**

****=^..^=****

Urahara smoked on his pipe. He looked with his usual expression the immutable scenario of the starry sky over Soul Society. How many years had passed, how many lives had come and gone? He wasn't a man who regretted or started to get nostalgic about it, after all, to become a shinigami the loss of companions and friends was part of the contract. However, the death of Ichigo was a hard blow.

As he declared in his report, he only took those two under his wing because it was an order, but as the two kittens grew, he became more attached to them, and discovered himself desiring the orange cat. He fell in love with him, such a curios prank of destiny.

He let the ashes fall on the ashtray and sucked again on the pipe. He wasn't going to ever accept a mission like this again. Not even if the Soul King itself came down and ordered him.

Toushirou had also suffered a hard blow. His usual calmed face was contorted in pain and the tears ran down his cheeks since that night. He was mad at the world, to his friends and more towards himself, because he failed to help his beloved brother, who always took care of him. He caged himself in the room he shared in the past with Ichigo, and after several intents, one day he only let Gin approach to him. The silver fox didn't say anything, he only let him cry while holding his head on his lap and drying the tears that came out, patiently (2). At least, he had somebody to catch him before he hit the bottom. But when the pain subsided, when the wounds closed (because, even when the pain was there, time make us stand up again), what was going to happen? Was everything going to keep like if the past was a nightmare, or like it didn't happened? Was Ichigo's name going to become a forbidden word?

"Agh…"

Urahara scratched the back of his head and got up. He looked for a drink; he needed it.

**_1-_**_I decided to put this title to the case because Ichigo last name, Kurosaki, could be translated like "dark cape", so, the idea I have of his name is something like "a guardian (behind) a dark cape".__  
**2-**__ Don't tell me, I know, OCCness... _


	16. Chapter 14

**Gekkouha  
_Moonlight flower_**

**_Written by: _Maru de Kusanagi  
_Beta read by: _Persistence**

**_Started: November 2, 2009__  
__Ended: April 4, 2010_**

_Disclaimer:__ Bleach it's not mine. I wish it was.__  
WARNINGS__: yaoi, weird pairings, crazy writer.__  
PAIRINGS:__ mainly Renji/Ichigo, but there's also some Byakuya/Ishida, some Grimjow/Ulquiorra, Gin/Rangiku (mention), Aizen/Toushirou, Urahara/Ichigo (unrequited) and Gin/Hitsugaya (mention)._

_RATING:__ M_

_-**Terminology for this story-**_**_  
_**DEMI-HUMAN: _a half animal person, like the nekobito.__  
_NEKO:_ 'cat' in Japanese.__  
_NEKOBITO:_ it means 'cat person', and I made up this one. It's the conjunction of "neko" and "hito" (_person_). The Japanese grammar makes the 'h' change to a 'b' in this.__  
_INUBITO:_ Dog + person… I don't like how it sounds, so, I don't think I'll be using it too much.__  
_KITSUNE:_ fox_

_**Note: **_FINAL CHAPTER!!!!!

_All I want is for you to be happy and__  
__Take this moment to make you my family and__  
__Finally you have found something perfect and__  
__Finally you have found..._

_RED HOT CHILLI PEPPERS, "Hard to concentrate"_

**CHAPTER 14  
**About nine months later, the incident with the nekobito -_like everyone called it_- was closed, and it was officially forgotten. It wasn't forbidden to talk about it, but it was preferably to keep quiet about it. Especially near a certain redheaded lieutenant.

Renji hid his pain well. With an iron will he endured his suspension and he was almost expelled, if it wasn't for Byakuya's intervention. After his suspension, Byakuya wasn't so sure about letting Renji come back to work, but a curious letter reached his desk. It had a very important signature.

A little uneasy, something he would had found very strange in his person if the events of the past haven't happened, he opened it and read its contents. First, his eyes showed a perplexed expression, something so odd like snow in the desert. When he recovered from the first shock, he couldn't avoid to his thin lips curve into a smile, something he hadn't done in a while. Uryu, who just came with his tea, asked him what happened, and Byakuya looked at him with contempt.

"Tell Rukia to bring Renji and his demi-humans friends immediately."

Uryu blinked.

"It's something wrong?"

Byakuya shook his head in an elegant movement, denying it.

"No, just go. I'll explain everything to you later, I promise you."

Uryu did what he ordered and Rukia departed immediately.

At his home, Renji rested on the floor, with empty sake bottles and cups around him. The apartment was messier than the occasion when Ichigo came for the first time and arranged it. The orange cat's face was on his mind. He missed him so much.

The white nekobito and the fox stayed around. Maybe because they felt some sort of debt to him, but Toushirou kept the place tidy as he could without entering in conflict with Renji. They barely talked when they crossed paths. Both sides lost a very important person, and talking made it harder.

"We should go. He was your brother's lover, so you have nothing to do here." said Gin to Toushirou, when the cat was putting the clothes on the rope to dry.

Toushirou finished his task before confronting the fox.

"Why? This is something I do because I want to. And where should we go?"

"Back to the forest."

"And who said that I will go with you?"

"Come on, Shirou-chan" said Gin, sneaking his arms around the white cat waist. The fox was facing him; his closed eyes fixed on the beautiful creature in his arms "Why do you deny me so much now?"

Toushirou avoided looking at him, but the soft pink color showed on his cheeks.

"Because you're a pervert pedophile, that's why."

"You are not a child anymore." one of Gin's hands caressed the line of the column, making Toushirou shiver "See? No kid reacts like that"

Toushirou erased that hated (and yet, loved) smile with a punch. "Oww, that hurts!"

"You deserved it, bastard." said Toushirou, getting free and walking away from the fox's.

"Renji! Are you home?" it was Rukia's voice, and Toushirou was grateful. He went directly to the door and let the shinigami in.

"Hello Toushirou" she said, but she didn't say anything else. Nothing like "how's going" or "how are you". She knew better to ask that.

Toushirou mouth twitched in a resigned expression and sighed.

"He's in the dining room, like usual." He said, and Rukia walked directly where he meant. She found Renji in the usual spot on the floor of the dining room.

"Hey there" she said, and Renji barely look back at her. "Get ready, nii-sama needs to talk you. It's important."

Renji didn't move at first and his eyes felt too heavy. He got up with difficulty, and walked slowly to his dorm. He changed into clean clothes and washed his face, and everything took longer than what Rukia expected. He had clean clothes thanks to Toushirou care. Rukia looked at the demi-humans couple.

"You two must come also."

"Why?" asked Toushirou, and crossed his arms. He didn't want to see the noble. He let Ichigo die.

"Please?" she plead in her most concerned and conciliating tone "It's really important."

Toushirou fixed his eyes on her and then sighed.

"Okay. Are you coming, Gin?"

"I told you, I'll never let you go so easily," said the fox, grabbing him from behind.

"I told you to cut the crap!" said the cat, struggling to get free. Renji looked at them with sadness and Toushirou decided to shut. He almost forgot....

In his office, Byakuya wasn't sitting at his desk. He was looking through the window at the autumn leaves dancing on the wind.

"Nii-sama" Rukia alerted him "Here they are."

The group entered and showed their respects to the noble (exception was Gin: he was away from human conventions).

"Taichou" said Renji, finally. His voice showed how tired he was, how much hurt he was in "What's the matter?"

Byakuya finally turned to look at them. His face lacked of his coldness, somehow it was... happy. He talked to Renji.

"I have received a most important and uncommon request about you. The Royal Guard is asking to recruit you."

The group blinked. What was Byakuya talking about?! Had he finally lost it?!

"I must say, I had the same reaction as you when I received this letter," said Byakuya, moving to his desk and signaling the missive "but, there's no mistake. Nobody uses the royal seal besides the royal family. And the odd thing is, only member's from the First Squad are recruited for the Royal Guard, but an important person is more than interested in your services."

Byakuya gave the letter to Renji, who read it. He was being requested for serving the Royal Guard! What? Why?

"Of course, you're not obliged to accept it. This person wants to meet you first and let you take the decision on your own terms. He waiting for you at Yamamoto Sou-taicho place."

Silence again. Finally, Rukia said: "This is really a great honor, Renji! You should at least hear what it has to offer you!"

Renji was... Speechless.

"But, I don't get it" said Toushirou "Why you called for us too?"

"This person got notice about the incident and wanted to get to know you. By the way, where's the blue cat?"

"From what I heard" said Rukia, and a blush covered her face "He was 'playing' with captain Zaraki..."

Silence again, a little uncomfortable.

"I see..." Byakuya turned to Renji "What do you say, Abarai-fukutaichou?"

Renji then, being called by his title, reacted.

"I think I must at least meet this person, I don't think it's somebody I should keep waiting just like that."

"Very good and wise decision. We should go then."

The scary figure of the old man, with his impotent presence and his firm position was something Renji always had a hard time facing. This man, the Sou-taicho, exhaled such respect and power that nobody in his right mind defied it. Well, Captain Zaraki did, but he also said that he didn't need something as useless as reason.

"So, child's, you came. Good." he said.

"Hai!" they bowed in respect to the man and Gin only gave a playful smile as greeting. Toushirou kicked him and obliged him to bow a little.

"Abarai Renji, Sixth Squad Fukutaichou, you have been summoned. He waiting for you and will meet you in private first."

"Hai, Yamamoto Sou-Taichou" agreed Renji.

One of the servants guided Renji to a room inside of the place. Finally, the woman stop in front of a room and asked him to wait. She entered inside and Renji could hear that his name was announced, but the answer of the other person he couldn't hear. The servant came out and said:

"His majesty will see you now. Please, remember your place. Don't lift your face if he didn't require you to do it."

She let Renji, closing the door behind.

Renji crouched on the ground and kept his face down.

"I am Abarai Renji, Sixth Squad Fukutaichou" he said, unusually nervous "I'm at your services."

He heard footsteps coming towards him in a quiet matter**.** He saw the shadow stop in front of him and suddenly he wanted to run.

"Since when you are so polite?"

That voice!

Renji lifted his head, forgetting the etiquette. In front of him was a young man, with carrot hair and brown eyes, dressing a very elegant marine blue kimono.

"Ichigo...?"

This wasn't a nekobito! This was a human!

"Hi, Renji" said the young man and crouched in front of him. Renji looked at him without coming out of his surprise. The boy grabbed his face and kissed him softly...

It was the same taste.

"And you have been drinking a lot again."

"Ichigo... Bastard!"

Renji sneaked his arms around the young man's frame and kissed him hard, like the world was ending. If this was an illusion... He didn't care anymore. He pushed the orange head boy to the ground, and never stopped kissing him.

"You taste the same" he said when he let go.

"You kiss the same" said Ichigo, looking at him with eyes full of love.

Renji got a little up at looked at the boy.

"Is really, really you? You're not another dream?"

Ichigo lifted one hand and cupped the face of the shinigami.

"Yes, it's me. I'm sorry for letting you suffer, but..."

"Shut up" said Renji, and kissed him again. When he let go of that delicious mouth, he covered Ichigo's face with heated kisses "I don't want to know. Not now. Now I only want you."

His hand followed Ichigo's body frame. The young man chuckled down him.

"Of course... You are a man of action."

Renji's hands separated the parts of the kimono and the soft white skin was revealed once again to him. He tasted it, from the throat to his belly, feeling Ichigo tremble under his touch. The young man moved his hand and freed Renji's hair, feeling it in his fingers.

"Renji... I want to feel you against my skin" he whispered. This man always made him feel like this.

Renji got up and discarded the upper part of his uniform. Ichigo lifted his hands and caresses his chest, feeling the muscles, and kissed and licked the skin. He took a nipple in his mouth and sucked it. Renji growled under his breath, moving his hands around the young boy's back and let his hands travel under his pants, grasping the round cheeks. Feeling it, Ichigo breathed hard, letting go of the nipple. The cold air made Renji shiver.

Renji was again on the dominance. He pulled off the others pants and finally got Ichigo naked. His erection was already up, pink and pulsing, waiting for Renji's attention. So, he did, taking it in his hands and caressing it, making the young man groan.

"Ren...!" said Ichigo, his shoulders. Renji then went down and took it in his mouth. "Woah!"

With his tongue Renji licked it and sucked from the hard flesh. Ichigo's words were unintelligible, with moans and yells for more, the hands grabbing his hairs and pulling hard.

Finally, Ichigo body tensed and the seed was sprawled, and Renji collected it on his mouth, savoring it, cherishing it.

Ichigo lay on the floor, eyes closed, panting. Renji looked at him. So beautiful. He took his pants out and threw them away.

Ichigo opened his eyes to see him naked. So long since the last time they were together... He had desired it so much....

Renji was about to place his hand to his mouth but Ichigo grabbed it and took it into his. He sucked of the fingers, licked them, leaving a good amount of saliva on them. Renji then moved them to his entrance and caressed it, letting the fingers go inside one after another. Ichigo closed again his eyes; the feeling was so intense he couldn't face his lover. Just that touch, a caress in such a private place made him his mind go crazy.

"You must have missed me that you're already hard." said Renji, a hint of malicious and desire on his voice.

"Shut up..." hissed Ichigo "Go in already..."

"What?" whispered Renji on his ear, making Ichigo tremble again "What did you say?"

"Just... Just fuck me already!" Ichigo almost begged, when those fingers touched his sensitive spot.

"I won't fuck you..."

"Wa- what!?" Ichigo thrashed away, feeling that caress, seeing stars.

"I'll never fucked you... I'll make love to you..."

Renji kissed his jaw, removing his fingers from there. He took Ichigo's leg up, put them over his shoulders and then pushed in. He was hot and stretched as he remembered. Delicious.

"Renji!" screamed Ichigo, searching for something to hold onto, and ended up grabbing his discarded kimono. Renji grabbed him from the waist, and pushed in again, deeper. The heat made him sweat, and his lover's face made him go crazy. "Please..."

"What... Ichi...?"

Renji's voice came out on labored breaths.

Ichigo only groaned.

"What...?" This time he pushed harder. For some reason, he needed to know what Ichigo was trying to say, even if he needed to rip it out.

The orange-headed boy opened his eyes, shining with tears of passion.

"Love me..."

Renji pushed deeper and harder. His hands slipped from the naked skin, and he needed to hold harder, leaving marks on the skin.

"Ah! I'm going to!...."

Ichigo came hard on their stomachs and then Renji pushed harder, finally coming inside of him. He felt it then. The same smell, like the time they made the love for the first time. The forest and wildness smell. He pulled out of Ichigo and laid next to him, recovering his breath, his head over his lover's chest. After a few moments, Ichigo recovered enough senses to move his hands and caress his lover's face. Renji let in the sweet after sex, in those simple caresses filled with love.

"I love you, Renji..."

"I love you too, Ichigo..."

*****

Toushirou saw Renji leave and a familiar smell came to his nose. He only felt that smell once.

"So, they are?" said a feminine voice. The group turned to see a beautiful woman with orange hair and a big smile, dressing in a very elegant kimono. She also had brown chocolate eyes.

"It's you!" said Toushirou, almost jumping in his place "But it's impossible! You were dead! I saw it! He… he killed you!"

The woman smiled a big and bright smile, like a sunshine.

"Hello, Toushirou-kun. I think we never got the opportunity to meet properly. My name is Masaki Kurosaki, and I'm Ichigo's mother."

"Ichigo's mom? Are you here to make some sort of vendetta over us?" asked Rukia. The woman looked at her with amiability.

"No, kids. I came here because Ichigo wanted to see all of you so much, and to finally give light to this story."

"What? Is Ichigo alive?!" asked Toushirou, anxious.

"No, he's dead" she said.

The hope that had raised in Toushirou's heart sunk.

"I think this matter should be talked in another place" said Yamamoto and called for a servant "Take them to the courtyard and serve the tea. They have a lot to talk about."

Just when the tea was ready, Toushirou looked at her with eyes full of desperation.

"So, Ichigo's dead?"

"Yes, and I'm dead also. But I'm just like the shinigami, a soul inside of the manifestation of my energy."

"And Ichigo?" asked Rukia.

"The same. You see, all the nekobito are beings that don't have a complex soul like the human. They live and die and revive, and depending of his "evolution", like you can call it, they become humans or commons cats. Most of the stray cats in Soul Society are nekobito souls. But you and Ichigo are different. You have a soul that's neither human nor feline, so, when you die, one part is lost. Ichigo's wild, animal part died then, but his human part remained. I just needed to call him back."

"And you?" asked Gin "You were dead. How is that you are here? You aren't a shinigami."

"Well, you see" she said "I was a princess of the Royal Court in the past. Aizen, somehow, took my soul and put it in a human body, just before his plan was discovered and his zanpakutou sealed. I grew as a human and he made me meet the nekobito who was Ichigo's father. He wanted to see if with that mixture he could get the key to the throne. And almost did, but he never expected love to have such power."

Toushirou heard that in silence. Something didn't fit.

"So, if Ichigo was ok, why you haven't said anything earlier? We were so sad and worried about it!!!"

"Because they didn't want him to return here, right?" asked Byakuya and everybody looked at him "You hoped for him to forget his past life as a demi human and become one of the princes of the Court. But you also forgot how deeply Ichigo loves Renji."

Masaki was silent for a moment.

"Yes, you're correct, Byakuya Kuchiki." She finally said "We tried to erased his memories, but every time we believed we had succeeded, a few days later he started to remember and ask for Renji and his friends. There was no way to erase those memories from him, because the bonds that ties you all are stronger than life, or death."

"Ichigo is with Renji, right?" said Gin, ignoring the look Toushirou sent to him.

"Of course."

"What do you want from us?" asked Toushirou before Gin could open his mouth again.

"Well, Ichigo would never leave you behind, Toushirou. He loves you like a brother and I believe that you can have a nice life with us, you can get along with Yuzu and Karin, my twin daughters and Ichigo's small sisters. We all could be a family. And also, I wanted to give my gratitude to all of you, for taking care of my son during all this time. I'm really grateful."

"We are honored" said Byakuya, bowing in front of her.

"Both of you are welcome" said Masaki, this time looking at Gin.

Gin looked at Toushirou a moment, and saw the inner conflict inside of the young cat. Everything was too simple, too easy. And he also knew that in such family he had no place.

"I think I'm a little tired of sitting so much, I'll take a walk." He said and faster than a flash, he disappeared.

"Gin, wait!" was all that Toushirou could say but the fox was already gone. What was that?

"You should go after him" whispered Rukia to him, but Toushirou shook with his head.

"No, I want to see Ichi first!"

****

After Ichigo explained the same to Renji, the red head shinigami caressed his body. He still couldn't believe it. Can they really have a happy ending?

"Renji…" Ichigo's voice was still drowsy for all.

"Mnh?" Renji lifted and eyebrow and looked at him, not stopping his caresses. Oh, how sexy was the orange headed like that, flushed, hair all messy, still waiting for more.

"Will you come with me?"

Renji stopped and fixed his eyes in the other's. Yes, that was a huge decision, leaving everything behind for the one he loved. How many times had we heard "I'd do anything for love"? but that wasn't something easy to do. There were many things to weight: he had a life here, in the Soul Society, friends and comrades he would miss so much, a life he knew, a routine. If he went with Ichigo, all of that would be in the past, something completely new will start from zero, and it scared him. And even when he wanted to scream a "yes", that it didn't come so easily to his lips.

But Ichigo was still waiting for his answer. Renji had to made his eyes look away and sighed.

"I… I don't know, Ichigo…"

Ichigo wasn't sad. It was an expected response. After all, he was asking to Renji to leave everything he had to come with him to a world completely strange to him. Even like a servant of the Royal Family, which was, indeed, a huge honor, he knew that it wasn't an easy decision for anyone.

"I understand." He said, and clung to Renji neck, searching for his lips again. The kiss it didn't mean to be so desperate, but it tasted like that.

"We… we should go to see the others… they're still waiting." Said Ichigo.

"Yeah, we should…"

Slowly, they went to the small bathroom and got clean. They put their robes on again and helped the other to look the most pristine they could. It was like they were a married couple already, and that thought made Ichigo have a stupid smile on his face. Renji saw this and asked about it.

"Is like we're married." He simple said, intertwining his fingers in Renji's. Renji blushed and kissed him softly on the lips.

"Yeah."

They walked hand in hand until they reached the courtyard. When Rukia saw them, she got up jumping and hugged the ex-nekobito, touching his head to see if the ears were really gone. Toushirou, after a few hesitant seconds, also hugged his brother, with tears in the corner of his eyes. Byakuya, on his side, bowed very elegantly in front of Ichigo.

"An honor to see you again, prince Kurosaki."

"Please," said Ichigo, blushing a little "just Ichigo, Kuchiki-san."

"As you wish, Ichigo-san."

"Yay! You must be so happy Renji!" said Rukia, punching her friend "You hooked a prince!"

"Shut up" he said.

Rukia, faster than a lightning, saw the problem and took Renji away to talk.

"What's the problem?"

"What?"

"Don't play fool. Aren't you happy that Ichigo is back, and asked you to be with him? Now you could be together! You aren't going to tell me that you are chickening out!"

"I… what about you and the rest?"

"What are you talking about, stupid?! You must think of yourself and your happiness! We are ok, so stop worrying. Go with him, be happy, screw him like no tomorrow or whatever you do, but don't let him go!"

Rukia turned around, hiding her face so the tears couldn't be seen by him.

"Don't you ever let him go, or I'll never forgive you!"

Renji was silent, looking at her silent back. He knew that she was crying, but he had to take a decision. Rukia was right, he had a chance to be happy.

"Thank you, Rukia." He said, kissing the crook of her head.

"Just be happy, ok, dumbass?" she was giving thank to heavens that he couldn't see her blushed face.

Meanwhile, Ichigo talked with Toushirou.

"Where's the fox?"

Toushirou was so happy to see that Ichigo was ok, that he almost forgot about Gin.

"He… he said that he was going for a walk."

"Oh…"

They walked away from the group, to have their own private talk.

"You look nice like that."

Toushirou blushed.

"I'm not! I hate it!" yelled the white cat, with his tail raised and fluffy, the pointy ears back and twitch on his temple. It was something beyond 'cute'. "This makes him touch me and grab me and he's always picking at me because he says I'm cute! I am not!"

The cat stomped on the floor and Ichigo chuckled. Toushirou glared at him.

"You do like him."

Toushirou paled.

"What…?"

"You like him a lot. Or you wouldn't be bitching so much about him, because you only speak bad about the people you like."

"I never talked bad about you."

"I know. I mean the ones you like in a way that's not a fraternal love."

"Ichigo, you know I'm not ready for that…"

"I didn't say that. But you should accept it, because even as you try to deny it, you're not a child anymore, Toushirou. Accept yourself, and accept him. If you like him, I'm sure something good he must have."

Toushirou kicked a stone, and his white tail waved.

"He won't go there, where you live now. He wants to go to the forest…"

"And you?"

"I don't know…"

Ichigo brought the small nekobito frame to his arms and hugged him. The white cat blushed hard.

"It's ok, you know. You should go where your heart calls."

Toushirou nodded with his head. Why was this so hard?

"Ichigo, we should inside, dinner is about to be served!" called Masaki.

"We're coming!" smiled Ichigo, like he hadn't done in a long time.

***

After the dinner, Urahara showed up. Renji felt a little unnerved, but the look Ichigo gave him erased any doubts he could have. He went to speak with him in private in the courtyard.

"So, everything got fixed in the end," said Urahara after a moment of silence, doing some draws with the point of his cane on the ground. The white crescent moon was up in the starry sky.

"Yeah." Ichigo felt a blush crept to his cheeks. After all, not every day you were born as a nekobito, fall in love, were used as a tool and died, only to wake up and find that you were a prince. "I wanted to tell you that I'm thankful for what you did for us. But you lied to me, you knew what I was all this time."

Urahara looked at Ichigo with a half smile.

"Yeah, so?"

There was. That playful smile, that unnerved him. And still, Ichigo was sure he was going to miss it so much.

"Why didn't you tell me anything about it?"

"There was a chance of you returning as a human or to a cat state after your death like a nekobito. I didn't want to get your hopes up until I was sure, and I was ordered to keep it secret what I knew from your origins."

Ichigo crossed his arms.

"Harassing me was also part of the show?" he asked, lifting an eyebrow.

"Of course not. I do love you, kid."

Ichigo was frozen. Never expected such a straight answer. In that moment, Urahara smiled a true smile, and looked at him directly to the eyes.

"But I understand."

Ichigo smiled then.

"Thank you."

_Finally you have found something perfect and__  
__Finally you have found… yourself._

_With me…_

**_Next chapter is the epilogue…_**


	17. EPILOGUE

**Gekkouha  
_Moonlight flower_**

**_Written by: _Maru de Kusanagi  
_Beta read by: _Persistence**

**_Started: November 2, 2009__  
__Ended: April 2010_**

_Disclaimer:__ Bleach it's not mine. I wish it was.__  
WARNINGS__: yaoi, weird pairings, crazy writer. _Character death!_ (I really must stop with that)__  
PAIRINGS:__ mainly Renji/Ichigo, but there's also some Byakuya/Ishida, some Grimmjow/Ulquiorra, Gin/Rangiku (mention), Aizen/Toushirou, Urahara/Ichigo (mention) and Gin/Hitsugaya)._

**_RATING:_**_ M_

_-Terminology for this story-__**  
**_DEMI-HUMAN: _a half animal person, like the nekobito.__  
_NEKO:_ 'cat' in Japanese.__  
_NEKOBITO:_ it means 'cat person', and I made up this one. It's the conjunction of "neko" and "hito" (_person_). The Japanese grammar makes the 'h' change to a 'b' in this.__  
_INUBITO:_ Dog + person… I don't like how it sounds, so, I don't think I'll be using it too much.__  
_KITSUNE:_ fox_

****=^..^=****

**EPILOGUE: _A moonlight flower's blossoming_**

_Ikiru imi sagashiteiru daremo mina tabibito  
__Haruka naru tabiji tadori boku wa ima arukidasu  
__Ibara no machi no mukou e_

_Those searching for the meaning of life are all travelers,  
__I set my course on this endless journey  
__for the place beyond the thorny path_

**"月光花"_ – __Gekkouha – (Moonlight Flower)  
__by Janne d' Arc  
__(Black Jack TV series first opening)_**

Renji and Ichigo left for the Royal Dimension. Tears of joy poured when the happy couple gave their goodbyes to their dear friends, with the promise of never breaking their bond. Rukia cried the most, because she really loved Renji, but his happiness was the best gift she could have.

Contact was mostly through letters and some phone calls. Everything was fine, until a letter with a black seal reached the hands of Ichigo. It was from Rukia, and it got him by surprise, because she always used a seal of Chappy the bunny.

The letter spoke that, around six months after their departure, Uryu fell sick. No doctor could find a reason for his sudden change, because he was usually very healthy and never got sick before.

"_His time had run out," said Urahara after checking the cat._

"_What are you saying?" asked Rukia._

"_That his life span has ended. The demi humans aren't shinigami or human. That why a kitsune can live 1000 years, a inubito 30 years, and a nekobito is known to live longer, some lived for 50 years and I never saw one that has lived this long: almost 100 years. Most of demi-humans age slowly like the shinigami, but the nekobito is a special case: they live all their lives in the time that was frozen by their first mate. When their life span reaches its limit, their life comes to a close__**."**_

_Silence fell. Rukia dried a tear out of the corner of her eye, and looked at Byakuya face. His quiet expression was betrayed by the tremble of his shoulders and his hands._

"_That's it, then?" he quietly said._

"_I'm sorry, but nothing can be done when they reach this point," said Urahara, hiding his eyes under the shadow of his hat._

"_Can you leave the two of us alone, please?"_

"_Yes, nii-sama" said Rukia and got out of the room with Urahara._

What happened in the room, Rukia only half knew and half guessed. She was sure that Uryu had a peaceful departure from this world, because he was happy to see that everything he had done wrong was fixed. He apologized to the orange-headed prince and promised to be more open to his master. Byakuya decided to give more of himself in the relationship, and they shared more time together. Byakuya showed him off public and never let the rumors affect his life.

«Uryu died in the next morning. He just slept in nii-sama arms. He made a ceremony in his honor and his picture has been placed in an altar next to my sister's. He prays and shows his respect to them every day. I know he's in pain, though. He's too lonely, and some of servants told me it was like this when Hisana died, but worse, he's more closed. He not only lost a lover, Uryu, who for a short time was a son to him, and later a companion. It's a hard blow.

«That's why I thought about it and decided that he needs a new companion. Not a cat this time, I think we had enough of that for a while (no hard feelings). I went the other week to the Fourth Squad's barracks and met a very curious creature: an inubito! A black haired, pretty boy. He's very shy and polite, and his name is Hanatarou. Anyways, I learned that he is very good at healing, so I asked him to come to see a wound my brother got on a hollow hunt. I crossed my fingers, while write this I'm waiting for his arrival.

«By the way, Urahara told me that Toushirou had disappeared. He had stayed at his place after your departure, but Gin hadn't he returned to his forest. Toushirou tried to deny his feelings, but he really missed him. I think that maybe he went to look for him. Who knows… Momo surely misses the white cat.

«Another thing is Grimmjow. He got hooked to Yachiru, who put a collar on his neck and declared that he was officially her pet (or captain Zaraki's pet when she is out. Nobody dares to even imagine what happens then…).

«There was a new law approved about the demi-human: nobody has the right to force them to be their pets. They have the right to be free and live in the forest as long as they don't cause trouble to the other races. Urahara is the one in charge of their protection, and now two demi humans live with him: a small black haired kitten and a red headed dog, Ururu and Jinta. They are like the back and the front of a coin, but get along.

«Well, I must say goodbye now. Take care, boys!

«Love,  
_Rukia Kuchiki_»

***

The fox disappeared that evening in the garden of Yamamoto Sou-Taichou places, but it was easy to guess where the fox went. To his forest. Alone.

Not for long.

"Are you going to stay all night watching the moon, doing nothing?"

"Nah, I'm going to finish this sake while I watch the moon."

The fox sat straight and gave a cup to the nekobito, who watched at him suspiciously.

"You didn't put anything strange in here, right?"

"Only my love!"

Toushirou drank, blushing.

"Pervert."

"Ah, but you love it that way."

**_END_**

**_NOTE_**_**: **my neighbor has a black shepherd dog that has no name-"Blackie" is not a name!- and that they abandoned on the streets, is a very sweet animal and I love him- but I can't take him on my house 'cos my dog will kill him-, and I call him "Hanatarou". He got used to his name, I feed him regularly and always greets me when I got back from work, along with his girlfriend! I thought to put this character before, but then the story came like this  
NOTE2: I know that there are some mistakes in the argument and the story line, so, since I started the spanish version I'll fix that at the same time. It 'll take some time._

****=^..^=****

**I'm doooooooooooooooooooooooone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!**

_*takes a beer and drink in the honor of the occasion*_

**So, I'm really grateful to everybody who read this and followed me all this time. Thank you for giving me good advices, your reviews and encouragement.**

**I LOVE YOU PERSISTENCE!**

**You gave me all the strength I needed to keep on I hope you enjoyed it. I'm sorry for the trouble I may have caused you.**  
**So, are you willing for me to do a new story? I still have two more ideas, and, as I hope as you could see in this one, I've tried to do something that stands out from other's fics. I know it's hard to make something 100% different, but I did what I wanted here, and, luckily, some people liked it.**

**This was for all of you.**

_*bows* _

**Thank you for attendance and I hope to read your reviews in a future fic. Please, tell me your opinion and mark my mistakes, is the only way to improve.**

**Love,**  
**_Maru de Kusanagi (Mariana Soledad Pérez)  
__Argentina  
__April 4, 2010_**


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